Re: Kingdom Hearts 2
by CirciFox81314
Summary: -Part 4 of the Re: Kingdom Hearts series- After about a year of slumber, Sora finally awakens only to find that a new problem known as the Organization XIII arises. Joined by Donald, Goofy and Penelope once more, they set out to stop the new threat, but also try to find Riku and bring him back. However, just who is Roxas and why is he relevant?
1. Chapter 1: The First Days of Summer

Here we are—at Re: Kingdom Hearts 2. Despite being here, with the start of this story, I have no idea how I'm going to approach this.

I mean, yeah. We're at Roxas's last seven days before he finally joins with Sora and Sora wakes up. Similarly, to Re: Kingdom Hearts, I intend on using the game as more of a reference, somewhat unlike Re: CoM and Re: 358/2 Days (though that was more heavily based on the game). It will have more of a base on Kingdom Hearts 2 and Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix.

And I know what is going to happen at the start too, with all the events.

I'll try to figure out how to work this out. As for Penelope… well, she'll show up. But when Sora wakes up, she's going to be away for a few chapters. As the concerns were expressed, Sora isn't going to forget Penelope, and neither is Donald and Goofy, and she'll have a better role in the plot than she did in Re: Kingdom Hearts up until she started getting more attention.

I will also make sure to balance her out among the other characters with certain events that will occur with the somewhat new OC in this story (who was introduced at the end of Re: 358/2 Days).

Man, have I been wordy. Anyway, let's get to the point, shall we?

Here we go. I own nothing but my OCs like usual.

Now, I present Re: Kingdom Hearts 2. We'll pick up exactly where I left off.

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 1: The First Days of Summer

 _On the beach of Destiny Islands, a boy with spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes awoke from a strange dream with a yawn. However, as he rose up, a girl with red hair and violet-blue eyes appeared to stop him, and it appeared to somewhat scratch out, like a TV when the satellite is messed with. "Gimme a break, Kai-" the boy said, only for it to somewhat glitch out again._

 _It then shifted to a race between the boy and a boy with silver hair and blue-green eyes. "Giving up already?" asked the silver-haired boy to the brown haired bow, who didn't reply. He only continued running. The girl ran after them, only for it to glitch out yet again, as the trio watched the sunset from a tree, the brown-haired boy and the red-haired girl propped up on the tree next to each other while the silver-haired boy supported himself against it._

" _If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up in this one?" asked the silver-haired boy. The brunette boy tried to respond, only for it to keep changing, flashing to a rock wall with a drawing of the brown haired boy giving this star-shaped fruit to the girl. As the boy looked at the photo, the voice of a man said, "This world has been connected." However, when the boy turned around, asking "Who's there?", he couldn't find the voice or the person at first until he saw a figure in a black coat._

 _It glitches out yet again, as the man continued to speak. "Tied to the darkness…" It changed to another scene with the red-haired girl and the brown-haired boy again. The girl stood up, her hands behind her back, requesting, "Sora, don't ever change."_

 _The scene changed to the silver-haired boy holding out his hand, saying, "The door has opened…" as the brown-haired boy, but also a brunette girl came up, and darkness spurt out from him. The boy looked confused, as did the girl. "What?" asked the boy._

 _Yet again, the scene switched, with the brown-haired boy and the brunette girl facing off against a gigantic creature of darkness. "You understand nothing." said the voice. It changed to the boy and the girl again, with the red-haired girl being present and the auburnette weakly came towards the boy. She appeared to vanish when the boy embraced her, weakly murmuring his name, and the brunette girl expressed joy at this, her words unable to be heard as the dream glitches out again. A powerful wind struck and the two of them flew back._

 _It then all flashed to white._

XxXxX

 _The First Day_

In his bedroom, a boy with spiky golden blonde hair and blue eyes awoke, sitting up in his pajamas (which consisted of a white and grey t-shirt with a star shaped pattern and black shorts) awoke, sitting up and putting his arm on his right knee. "Another dream about him…" He sighed, before looking out his window, where he saw a town with an eternal sunset, like he 'usually' did. He sat up and opened the window, gazing outside at the sunset.

This place was Twilight Town. In the distance, the boy could hear the bells of the town's clock tower ringing, indicating the morning (though noting how the town was locked into an eternal sunset, it was very hard to tell).

Later in the day, the boy was dressed and was in a place where you could hear the trains rushing nearby. This was the Usual Spot, where he hung out with his friends. Though there were boxes and stuff gathered about, there was some furniture present, though the key thing was a couch.

He was with two other boys and a girl. One of the boys had dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes wearing a grey vest and a black tank top with green, camo patterned capris and somewhat matching sneakers; the other had black hair that stuck up and he also had a headband, dark brown eyes, and wore a long red, white and black shirt with a pattern that said "DOG STREET on it, and wore blue pants and these whitish grey sneakers. The boys appeared to be conversing amongst each other. The girl, who had brown hair that went past her shoulders, inquisitive green eyes, an orange tank top with a white flower pattern, cream colored capris, orange socks (that went past her ankles but far from reaching her knees) and creamish white shoes.

The golden blonde-haired boy heeded no attention to them at the moment, his mind focused on the odd dream he had before coming to the Usual Spot to meet up with his friends. The girl focused on him a moment, though he still wasn't paying attention as he pondered on something.

When the boy finally tuned in, by the sounds of it, the dirty-blonde haired boy appeared to be ranting about something, stating that, "Man, doesn't that tick you off?" The black-haired boy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's just wrong."

The girl went back to paying attention to them, leaning closer, and revealing the topic somewhat. "Seifer's gone too far this time." She stated. Then, all of them looked at the third boy to see if he had agreed, and he finally paid attention. He only nodded, and the dirty-blonde haired boy stood up, crossing his arms.

"I mean; it's true stuff's been stolen around town. And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything," he began, walking around somewhat proudly. "So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See… that's not what really bugs me. What REALLY bugs me is that he's been goin' around tellin' everyone we're the thieves!"

His friends watched him as he seemed to go around in a circle, talking to nobody in particular. "Now, the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life?" He asked, turning towards the golden blonde-haired boy and his friends, waving his hands to emphasize his point. "'Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh, NEVER."

He pounded his hands together, looking away. "Now…what to do."

The girl looked down worriedly before looking at the golden blonde-haired boy, who appeared to somewhat be spacing out. He stopped and looked up, seeing the girl's worried face and then looked down, trying to think of something to say to his angered friend. "Uh, well…" Pondering on what to say a moment, the blue-eyed boy finally came up with something. "We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight."

The black-haired boy stood up, agreeing with the suggested idea. Facing his friends now, the dirty blonde haired boy faced his friends as the black-haired boy left and the golden blonde-haired boy stood up. "Well, what about Seifer?" He asked, crossing his arms yet again.

"First, we gotta clear our names," explained the other boy present. "Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs."

The black haired boy panicked, staring into a camera. "Oh no! They're gone! Our - are gone!" The boy touched his throat in confusion when he found that the word he was trying to say didn't come out?

"All our -, gone?" asked the dirty-blonde haired boy. He confusedly touched his throat.

"You can't say - why not?" asked the girl.

"But you do understand what I'm saying, right? Our - are gone!" He exclaimed.

Sheesh. By the sound of it, it seemed that even the word in specific was stolen. What, were the synonyms too?

The blue-eyes boy nodded and looked at his friends. "Stolen… and not just the -. The word -! They stole it, too!"

"What kind of thief is that? Seifer could never have pulled that off." The golden blonde-haired boy, or rather, Roxas, as we should be calling him, nodded in agreement. "All right, time for some recon!" Roxas' three friends ran out, and though he tried to join him, suddenly, all went blurry, and he fell over, all going black.

" _His heart is returning. Doubtless, he'll awaken very soon._ "

Roxas found himself sprawled out on the floor when he came to. Roxas was confused where he was, only for the girl (Olette) to come in. "Roxas, c'mon." she told him, guiding him out to the marketplace plaza of town. Olette went over to the Armor Shop, joining the dirty-blonde haired boy (Hayner) and the black-haired boy (Pence). Roxas went over to meet up with them in order to start setting things straight.

They me up with each other, with Pence speaking to start the search. "Let's get this investigation underway."

"Yo, Roxas." said someone, and the group turned around to see one of the shopkeepers. Right away, he was already pinning the blame on them. "Never thought you'd do such a rotten thing…"

"We didn't steal anything, all right?" Roxas replied. The shopkeeper guy showed disbelief in response. "I'd like to believe you, but… Who else would steal that stuff?"

"What stuff?" Roxas asked, the lack of specificity from the guy annoying him a little.

Deciding to be a butt, the guy didn't tell him. And he also acted fairly rude when making his point. "As if you didn't know. Hey, I'm not gonna tell you. Go ask at the accessory shop." He answered, turning away.

Roxas and his friends turned the Accessory Shop, which was across the street. The way the guy said that rubbed off the wrong was (and probably was meant to). Walking over there, Hayner motioned Roxas to speak. "Go on, Roxas. Ask her."

The said boy went and talked to the blonde-haired girl who ran the accessory shop. "Oh, it's you, Roxas… Please don't let me down." She sighed. "You used to be one of my favorite customers."

"I'm not a thief!" exclaimed Roxas. The girl smiled rather hopefully, accepting his word very easily…

…Unlike the other guy who was a jerk. That's the best way to give a bad start to someone else's morning.

"It's no fun having everyone suspecting me, ya know." explained Roxas.

"You've got to find a way to clear your name." explained the girl. "The woman at the candy shop is pretty disappointed, too." They turned to the candy shop…

…Which was yet again, right across the street from the Accessory Shop. They went over, with the older woman who ran the shop asking, "Oh, Roxas. Have you seen my cat around?"

Roxas frowned before looking up to the sign and seeing the cat up there. It mewed at him, and Roxas found very quickly that he had to get the cat down. He was able to do so, giving the woman back her not-very-lost cat, and she thanked him graciously. Concerned, Roxas asked, "Did they steal something from you too?"

"Oh, my, yes."

"Just so you know, we didn't do it." said Roxas. Though he didn't necessarily pick the best wording for the matter, the older woman, like the girl, believed him. "Thank you, ma'am. Though… What exactly did they steal from you?" He asked.

"My -. My precious -." She answered.

Hayner, from the back, pointed the obvious. "Looks like the culprit is going around stealing -, but the word -, too." He said.

"This isn't your average thief." Pence added.

"I wonder if Seifer would know anything about this." Olette stated, coming to that conclusion upon pondering it.

Well, any information from the guy who started this chaos would probably be helpful at this time. So, Roxas took Olette's advice. He turned to face his friends. "We gotta go talk to him. C'mon, to the sandlot!"

Promptly afterwards, the four friends ran to the sandlot to face Seifer and his group.

XxXxX

In Seifer's group, there was three other people. There was Fuu, a girl with purplish-silver hair, and part of it covered one of her red eyes; Rai, a tall, fairly beefy guy with somewhat spiky dark brown hair and eyes and tanned skin; and Vivi, the shortest figure in the group with a tall, wizard-like had, and a shadowy face with golden yellow eyes gleaming from beneath it. They acknowledged the four, rather unimpressed to see them.

And man, were they quick; like that one shopkeeper; to pin the blame on them. "Thieves." Fuu hissed single-wordedly.

"That was low, y'know!" accused Rai.

Vivi adjusted his hat. Hayner shook his head and yelled, "Oh yeah?"

Then, the ringleader- Seifer- came into the scene. "Nice comeback there, blondie." taunted Seifer. Hayner frowned, stomping his foot and balling his fists. "What'd you say!?"

Seifer's piercing blue eyes stared at the four. "You can give us back the - now."

"Yeah! You're the only ones who would take it, y'know!" agreed Rai, like he usually did.

Seifer circled around them, pointing at them. "That was undeniable proof we totally owned you lamers."

Roxas gave him the glare that looked like he was going to kill Seifer as he continued talking. "So what did you do? Burn it? Ha, not that we need some - to prove that you're losers."

"Replay." Fuu said single-wordedly in her somewhat monotone, making Seifer laugh in agreement. With a smirk at the four, he said, "Now you're talking."

Three out of the four got ready to fight, while Hayner and Roxas somewhat were too. However, the two separate groups stood still, waiting for the next move of their opponents. Seifer, being the way he was here, simply wouldn't shut it and kept taunting the four. "I guess if you get on your knees and beg, MAYBE I'll let it slide."

Despite basically being really bad at being some kind of bully figure already, Roxas approached and went down on his knees, much to Hayner and his other friends' dismay. However, he wasn't doing it just so he could have mercy. He looked on the ground to see three bats. He picked the middle one to face off against Seifer.

So, the three of them began to hit each other with bats, and Roxas avoided the strikes, attacking skillfully. The other six in the separate parties watched. Despite Seifer kept taunting and taunting Roxas, Roxas showed him who was boss and kicked his butt. Seifer groaned in pain, falling to his knees and dropping his bat.

Fuu and Rai quickly rushed to their buddy's defense. "Seifer's not feelin' so hot, y'know!" exclaimed Rai, somewhat worriedly. "Tournament decides." added Fuu.

When Pence decided to take a picture to commemorate the victory, however, with Roxas smiling in the photo, as soon as he took a photo, a strange white creature swirled around him and stole his camera! It rushed off, confusing Roxas's three friends, and they went after it upon guessing it might've been the true thief.

Roxas did the same, his search leading into the forest of Twilight Town. Despite it's strange movements and mannerisms, Roxas kept going. Hayner, Pence and Olette hadn't caught up with him, leaving Roxas alone in the pursuit. He rushed after it, eventually getting to the gate of the mysterious Old Mansion of Twilight Town, where the creature awaited Roxas.

Roxas attempted to try and capture it, only for Roxas to hear a strange voice. " _We have come for you, my liege._ " It seemed to say, surprising Roxas. It pulsed with a bluish light along the sides and Roxas went to attacking. However, using the bat didn't seem to harm it in the slightest, much to Roxas's dismay. "It's no use…It isn't working…" said Roxas.

In a flash of data, however, his bat changed into a strange key-like sword and it pulled Roxas towards the white creature. He didn't understand what it was, his blue eyes flashing in confusion and alarm. "What… what is this thing?" He asked. Despite not understanding why is showed up, Roxas decided to deal with the change, getting into a fighting stance.

Roxas managed to take down the enemy. When it was defeated, photos fluttered down and the key-like sword vanished. Roxas gathered up the photos and took his findings back to the Usual Spot.

XxXxX

The four friends curiously looked through the photos, with Hayner asking about the thief. Unfortunately, Roxas wasn't able to give much of an answer, and was only really able to mention how the photos were simply just lying around. Though he didn't say anything else about the occurrence, like how that key-like sword appeared in his hands, Pence found something to be odd—mainly considering something that all of the photos that were stolen had in common (also noting that they were now permitted to say the word "photo" again).

For some strange reason, all of these stolen photos included Roxas in them. They couldn't exactly figure out why such was the case, but they figured that since Roxas was present in all of these photos, it was why everyone assumed they were the thieves.

Of course, as it was just proven, they weren't, but that isn't really the point.

So, Seifer wasn't just accusing them just to be a jerk after all. Roxas furrowed his eyebrows together. "Are they really all of me?" He asked.

His friends nodded, showing him the evidence. Roxas found that weird, unsure why all of those photos included him.

"Wouldn't it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?" joked Pence to the rest of the group.

Hayner, putting a hand on his hips, grinned. "C'mon, get serious. Why would anyone want to steal a bonehead like Roxas?"

"Oh thanks!" said Roxas back with a huge hint of sarcasm, and then, the four friends laughed it off together. However, they were quickly cut off when they heard the sounds of a train going by somewhere above or nearby them. Hayner, Pence and Olette went out before him, and Roxas stayed back a moment before deciding to go and meet up with his friends. The sun was incredibly bright when Roxas went back outside, and he covered his eyes.

When it went black, he was unsure where he was in the darkness. "Where am I?" Roxas asked himself, only to feel another presence. "Who's there?"

Roxas heard another voice of another boy, but he couldn't find where it was coming from. "Who are you?" They asked him back.

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Computer Room)

There was a sound of white noise from the computer, as it said, "Restoration at 12%". DiZ, who was at his computer, monitored the progress on the recovery of Sora's memory carefully, and a figure in black came up behind them. "Organization miscreants… they found us." hissed DiZ at his computer. It annoyed him that they found them and now, they were out to ruin their progress yet again. DiZ didn't want that.

"But… why would the Nobodies steal photographs?" asked the taller figure in black.

"Both are nothing but data to them. The fools could never tell the difference." replied DiZ. "We are running out of time. Naminé must make haste."

XxXxX

 _The Second Day_

 _The brown-haired boy and the brunette girl were knocked out in an alley of a town, with the girl's head on his shoulder. A dog sat there, licking them to wake them up. When they did, the girl smacked him across the face when she realized that she was next to him and her head had previously been on his shoulder. It seemed to glitch and scratch out again as the girl spoke, her voice and her words not heard._

" _Don't you 'what's wrong' me. Anyway, we need to find out where we are." she advised the boy, as they stood up. It glitched again, and the pair appeared to show up elsewhere. They were unsure where they were, and it changed the scene again._

" _Who are you?" asked the boy. The girl only watched._

" _They'll keep on coming at you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." said another voice, which sounded like it belonged to a man._

 _The scene scratched out, going to one where a duck and a dog in clothes were launched into the air at the boy and the girl, but the girl sidestepped and allowed the boy to take the impact as he tried to run away, but he couldn't, and then there was somewhat of a dog pile._

" _Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel." suggested the dog with a change of the scene yet again._

" _Penelope, Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends." said the one man, looking away, with a girl with short black hair and brown eyes at his side, agreeing with him._

 _The scene flashed again, and the dog, the duck and the boy introduced each other to on another, the girl hesitantly doing the same. It flashed, with the man talking about the key-shaped sword called the Keyblade, and a woman doing the same. Then the Keyholes were talked about, showing the boy and the girl appearing to lock one up in a cave underground._

XxXxX

Roxas suddenly awoke, sitting up and holding out his hand. "A key…blade?" He asked himself, gripping his hand. Later on, after getting ready to go meet with his friends, he mumbled the word again. "A Keyblade…" That was it. That must've been the strange key-like sword he held in his hand yesterday before fighting that strange white creature. When he turned, he noticed a stick up against a wall, and tapped it against his hand, seeing if it would turn into the same sword.

He shook his head, upon it refusing to work. "What was that about?" He asked himself before throwing the stick back. Roxas then unintentionally hit a guy in a black coat with it, who then turned around and walked off. "Sorry… about that." apologized Roxas after him.

Afterwards, Roxas met up with his friends in the Usual Spot. They were all eating sea salt ice cream, like usual, and gave Roxas a bar, which he graciously took. As they sat down and talked, Pence suddenly said something weird. "Do you guys think we'll always be together like this?" asked Pence.

"I sure hope so." replied Olette as she looked at Pence.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" asked Hayner.

"Oh, well, you know. Just thinking out loud." Pence said back, looking at Hayner.

Hayner shrugged. "Well, I doubt we can be together forever. But isn't that what growing up's all about? What's important isn't how often we see each other. Right?"

"Did you get that off of a fortune cookie?" joked Pence.

Hayner shook his head, looking at his friend. "That's it. No more ice cream for you! Man, today's turning out to be a drag." He grumbled.

"Maybe it's because of yesterday's memory thief." suggested Olette. However, that couldn't be it. In fact, it definitely wasn't it, as then said by Hayner as he refuted the suggestion.

"Nuh-uh, that's not it. We don't want summer vacation to be over. That's all!" exclaimed he. Pence turned Olette and shrugged. Then, the idea of going to the beach was brought up to spend the day (since they hadn't done so all summer), but they had to save up some munny so they could go. However, Hayner, Pence and Olette then left, making Roxas have to follow.

When he found his friends again, the three of them were looking at a poster advertising for the Struggle Tournament that was coming up soon. Roxas joined his friends at the poster. "Just two days to go." said Hayner, with a smile on his face. He looked at Roxas. "You and I have to make the finals! That way, no matter who wins, the four of us split the prize!"

"Ok, you're on." Roxas smiled as he accepted the challenge. Pence moved to the side and added rather enthusiastically, "You two are gonna clean up!"

"Go get em'!" added Olette to Pence's comment.

With a fist bump, the two friends then made a promise to do so. Then, they got down to business, doing the math and figuring out what to do. In order to raise munny for their trip, the four friends spent the rest of their day doing various odd jobs to get the rest of the required munny for the trip. The work took them the rest of the day until they met up again, and they had all the required money. Even more than that, in fact.

Once they had their munny gathered up and all counted together, they had 5000 munny, which was over what they initially wanted, but that was all good. Hayner, Pence and Olette went to get tickets, leaving Roxas behind. However, out of the blue, Roxas fell and tripped over… a stick? It looked like the same one that Roxas threw earlier…

The same figure pulled him up and grabbed him, confusing Roxas. "Roxas! C'mon!" yelled Hayner. When Roxas turned, the figure was gone. Hayner, Pence and Olette didn't seem to see him.

When they went up to pay for the tickets, Roxas didn't have the munny, much to his confusion as he did before. And when he realized that he didn't have it, connecting it to the guy, Roxas soon found that they hadn't seen the guy, but he did. Unfortunately, though, the train left, but Roxas was still really confused.

Though it turned out to be all for nothing, they still had sea salt ice cream on the clock tower.

Roxas's friends told him not to worry about it. But he recalled something weird that the strange man said to him.

" _Do you feel Sora?_ "

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Computer Room)

"Restoration at 28%," said the computer. The recovery of Sora's memory was going well and going faster, which was fortunate.

However, DiZ remained impatient. This whole memory recovery process had been going on for long enough. "Naminé, hurry." Grumbled DiZ as he sat at the Computer.

Today, there were two figures present in the room. One of them was the guy who had taken all that munny from Roxas, but there was also a shorter figure, and their build seemed slimmer and curvier, as well as more feminine, so it could be guessed it was a girl. The guy beside her messed with the bag, tossing it up and down into the air. The girl could hear the munny clicking. It annoyed her, but she refused to utter a word.

"Is it really that hard to make a beach?" asked the guy, who continued messing with the bag.

"We'd be giving the enemy another entry point." DiZ replied. Stopping with the annoying motion, he held the bag in his hand. "And this?"

DiZ turned around in his chair to look at it, as did the other figure. "We can always buy some sea salt ice cream." Answered DiZ.

"Ah, because that's the way to spend stolen, digital munny. Just blow it on ice cream, it'll be fine." The girl growled under her breath. DiZ shook his head, only laughing and turning back to his chair.

"Objects from that town must be kept out of the real world. You can delete that." stated DiZ.

"Or, we could stop antagonizing Roxas and just give him the Munny back. Why steal it if we have no use for it?" asked the girl.

Nobody answered her, and she sighed. "Tch. There's no point wasting my time talking to you, especially with what the both of you pulled. I'm going to my room." The girl then quietly left, opening the door and slamming it behind her.

"Stubborn girl. All she's been doing is interfering." said DiZ after she left. "But we need not worry about her. Naminé needs to finish restoring Sora's memory, and then, he can awaken."

For now, that was their greatest concern. And soon, hopefully soon, after nearly a year of slumber, Sora would finally wake.

-o-o-o-o-

And with that, we have the first chapter of Re: Kingdom Hearts 2. If it was a bit lengthy, I apologize. I want to try and crank out at least 2 days of Roxas' vacation before Roxas wakes up per chapter except for the last day, but that just depends what happens. If such is the case, it will be about 3-4 chapters of this segment, but that just depends what happens. We can't just stick at the tutorial forever, can we?

As I've already said enough already, as for what happens next… well, we'll have to see in the next chapter.

Please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming, and please tell me how I can improve. I'm going to try my best to get better with descriptions and dialogue in this story.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	2. Chapter 2: Struggling

Here we are at the second chapter. We'll pick off where we left off- at the third day.

Guest: No need to worry! I didn't find it rude in the slightest. It's a habit most of the characters have, but it will not be the case in this story. The only reason would be that she doesn't really seem to 'belong' in the eyes of the other characters for the most part, and though she's important, the role of the Guardian of Light and Darkness is mysterious in itself.

I only own my OCs.

Now, I present chapter 2.

XxXxX

Chapter 2: Struggling

 _The Third Day_

 _In an undersea cavern in a world underwater, the brown-haired boy and the brunette girl (who looked like merfolk; one with a dolphin's tail and the other with a lilac colored fish tail), as well as the duck and the dog (who looked like a squid and a turtle respectively) were presented before a mighty ocean king. His eyes looked fierce; angry, even, and he appeared to be focusing on the boy more than the girl. The girl felt pleased for not really being noticed._

" _As the key bearer, you must already know…One must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds." said the King._

 _With a flash it changed to a lovely, young mermaid who seemed to be twirling in the water as she swam upwards, a huge grin on her face. "So many places I want to see…I know I'll get there someday."_

 _Then, to a room in a coliseum. There was a tall, muscular fellow with short, yet curly auburn hair and pretty blue eyes. A satyr stood on an ionic pillar, reading a paper off to the dog, the duck and the boy as well as the brunette girl. Mainly addressing the first three, he stated, "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes."_

" _Hey! What do you mean, 'junior heroes'?" angrily asked the duck, who was visibly unimpressed._

" _You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero. Except maybe excluding that girl." replied the Satyr._

 _Then, to a building in a desert. "I…I wish… for your freedom, Genie." said a boy with black hair and a darker tanned skin who held out a lamp. The Genie was taken aback, crying out the boy's name... or rather, more of a nickname. "Al!"_

 _With surprise on their face, a burst of magical pink energy swirled around the Genie as they yelled; the boy, the brunette girl as well as the dog and the duck watching._

 _Then, there was a glimpse of an eerie town set in the holiday of Halloween in another flash. It changed again with the boy in a world of darkness summoning a small red dragon atop his head, as he proclaimed his name as Mushu._

 _Another glitchy flash showed the silver-haired boy… in an odd place. "Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?" He taunted the brown-haired boy and his other friends as they appeared to face off._

" _Riku? W-what are you doing here?" asked the boy in shock._

 _Nextly, on a ship. The brunette girl was gone, but there was an elf-like boy, the duck and the dog. The boy was in awe. "I still can't believe it. I really flew. Wait 'til I tell Kai-." Her name was cut off with another glitchy flash. "I wonder if she'll believe me."_

 _Then, on a clocktower over a town in the period of night. The elf-like boy was joined by a girl in blue, and a pixie sparkling with golden light flew over to the boy and the brunette girl._

 _More places then, to a coliseum where the boy spoke to a taller, blonde haired man as he passed by, and the boy in a storybook-like yet forested world surrounded by animals, with the boy stating how he was going to go look for his friends._

 _It switched back to the ship (which happened to be a pirate ship) on the deck. The boy and the brunette girl were facing off against the silver-haired boy yet again. "Where are Donald and Goofy?" he asked. It slightly scratched out and distorted when the other boy spoke again, revealing the red-haired girl, who almost looked soulless and in a comatose state._

" _Instead of asking about them, you should be asking about her." said he, as he revealed the girl._

 _Another flash showed the boy and the brunette girl sealing a Keyhole at the clocktower. Before it all went to white, the silver-haired boy was seen, crossing his arms, as well as the red-haired girl._

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Computer Room)

DiZ was at his computer, monitoring over the progress of Sora's memory recovery. In the Pod Room, a blonde girl in a white dress, or rather, Naminé, stood in front of a white pod that resembled a flower bulb. It switched to black, with the girl being seen. "Who are you?" asked Roxas, causing her to turn around.

She took a deep breath and only smiled, saying nothing.

XxXxX

Once again, like every day, Roxas awoke to the eternal sunset of Twilight Town, ready for a new day. However, he didn't notice a girl in white standing in his room. Upon seeing something out of the corner of his eye, with a gasp, Roxas turned around, only to see nobody there. Was he seeing things again? Like he had done so yesterday... or at least thought he did so yesterday? He didn't know, but he was filled with uncertainty on the topic.

After getting ready, Roxas went to the Usual Spot to meet up with Hayner, Pence and Olette. However, much to his dismay, none of them were present there, and all that was happened to be a note on the couch. Roxas went and picked it up, reading it to himself. Today, they were to meet up at the station and go to the beach. When he turned around, heading up there at the Station Heights, he saw Pence and Olette.

"Hey."

"Morning!" greeted Olette. The pair of friends were about to come over, but only weirder things happened, and suddenly, time stopped- going completely still as Pence and Olette froze in time. But for some reason, Roxas didn't. He didn't understand what was going on now.

Roxas tried running over to meet with his friends, only to be stopped by the girl in white that he saw in his room? "Hello, Roxas." she greeted him with her voice sounding creepy yet cheery at the same time. Roxas had no idea who this girl was, or how she knew his name, but he greeted her anyway.

"Uh… hi…" He said back, as the strange blonde-haired girl looked around a moment. "And you are…?"

The girl put one of her hands to his face to shush him and moved it away. With a smile, she then said, "I wanted to meet you at least once."

"…Me?" He asked, pointing to himself and raising an eyebrow.

She nodded. "Yes, you."

Roxas scratched his head nervously and looked away from the girl, who turned around and began to walk off. When she was gone and out of sight, the world unpaused, and Pence and Olette were able to move again. The two then approached Roxas, with Pence stating, "Olette dragged me along to go shopping."

Like nothing had happened, Olette asked, "Hey, do you wanna come with us?"

Roxas furrowed his eyebrows together. "Um, uhh, wait… did you guys just see that…" He began to ask, walking forward to see where she went. Pence sighed and shook his head.

"He's stalling." He said to Olette, who agreed.

Olette put a hand on one of her hips. "Very well, then. We'll see you later, Roxas, okay?" She asked. Roxas nodded, still unsettled, and Olette and Pence were as quickly off as they had just met Roxas.

Having no idea what was going on, Roxas decided to follow that one girl, wondering if she went to that one haunted mansion. That almost seemed like the direction she was heading, after all. He ran through town, eventually to the marketplace square and noticed the one hole in the wall that led to the forest. He knew that he had gone through there recently, mainly to go after that one strange creature that had stolen photos (that all strangely had him in it), so he knew where he was going.

However, as Roxas went through the forest, the strange creatures appeared once again, pursuing after him and trying to take him with them. Roxas ended up pulling away before running, passing through the Sandlot…

…Right where Seifer and his buddies unfortunately were at the time. Seifer decided to ruin the moment, yelling, "Hey, chicken wuss!" Roxas ended up stopping, and down from the street came those three, strange white creatures coming after him.

Somewhat fortunately, Seifer and his group saw, with them all getting into fighting stances, as did Roxas. Roxas took the bat he used yesterday, noticing that Seifer and his buddies weren't really able to do anything against them.

Then again… he wasn't really able to do anything either with his bat. He was only really able to hurt them with the Keyblade, if he remembered correctly. However, Roxas then get knocked back by one of the creatures before they surrounded Seifer and his gang. Except, as they walked around, like it did earlier, the world seemed to hit the pause button again.

Roxas had no clue what was going on, but he got cornered by the creatures. Suddenly, he heard that one girl's voice. "Roxas! Use the Keyblade!" she called. He couldn't identify where her voice was coming from at first until he looked up and saw the girl watching him from a rooftop balcony. But, when Roxas looked again, the creature rushed at Roxas, and he tried to defend himself.

But, with a flash of white, he found he was elsewhere upon uncovering his eyes. He appeared to be on top of a circular mural with the one brown-haired boy from his dreams, with pictures of the duck, the dog, the silver-haired boy and the red-haired girl. Then, presented towards Roxas was a sword, a shield and a staff. He didn't know what was going on, but he decided to choose the sword, mainly as it seemed to call for him.

Once again, after choosing, the Keyblade appeared in his hand, and then, he fought the mysterious enemies that kept pursuing him all day for reasons he didn't know. When he looked behind himself, a chest appeared, and he opened it up. Then a door appeared, and Roxas walked towards it as a mysterious voice spoke to him.

" _Be careful. Beyond that door lies a completely different world. But don't be afraid. Don't stop walking…"_

But, it didn't really lead to a completely different world. It led to the mural, and then had a stained glass path up to another mural. Though, these creatures were relentless; coming after Roxas and interrupting his movements. However, he kept running, and kept climbing up the paths, going through whatever came in his way. At the third mural, Roxas went through another door.

Upon walking in, he was confused. And unfortunately, he saw nothing. When he turned around, he saw a figure in a black coat a moment from the corner of his eye, but when he turned all the way around, he paused, and was shocked by what he was seeing.

Roxas stepped back worriedly, in fear of the great titan slowly coming at him. It was like one of those mysterious white creatures. Except, it was much, much bigger, more threatening and had an entirely different appearance. Roxas's first reaction was to try and run away, but he really couldn't, now that he was pushed to the edge. The monster towered above him, the blue attachments on the scarf-like thing around its neck towering threateningly like it was about to strike.

Roxas didn't understand what was happening, but he was definitely afraid. And he knew he very likely had to fight it.

With the Keyblade in hand, Roxas charged it, only for there to be a white and black aura surrounding him as he approached, and suddenly, Roxas was up in the air and locked into place. His breathing got fearful and shaky, unsure what was going on or what was happening. The creature swirled up and analyzed Roxas a moment, before moving one of its massive arms back, and he swiftly countered, hitting it in the face. However, Roxas was put back into place again, still restrained.

The creature's arms suddenly stretched forward and grabbed him, then chucking Roxas up in the air and trying to strike him. Roxas narrowly avoided and hit it instead. Roxas knocked it over, but then, the creature vanished. Roxas looked around in confusion, unsure what was to happen next. Suddenly, the huge, cylindrical mural was pulled at a 90˚ angle and Roxas fell down with a scream, seeing the monster awaiting him with a huge energy ball. It flipped around, kicking on the cylindrical mural powerfully enough to make it spin around as it then threw the energy ball at Roxas as he fell back.

However, throwing his Keyblade, the energy ball burst upon impact, throwing Roxas back onto the mural. He wondered if this was going to go on for a while as the monster fell down and his Keyblade pierced into the mural.

The battle kept going and going as Roxas had to twirl around in the air to avoid attacks before attacking. As Roxas had to keep fighting through little guys and the large monster itself. It ended up going through a cycle, but Roxas managed to defeat the monster the way the battle had started, landing and sliding back as his Keyblade was dismissed. The monster collapsed and Roxas moved back, hoping that he wouldn't be crushed, and then, it exploded into a huge ball of darkness. Then, it all went black.

Roxas tried to escape the darkness surrounding him, but fortunately, the girl in white pulled him out. As if this already strange day couldn't get any stranger, out of the darkness, Roxas appeared in a strange white room… before that one girl from earlier. He was about to speak to her and try to get some answers, though the blonde girl smiled, putting her index finger to her lips.

"My name is Naminé." she finally introduced. "Roxas… do you remember your true name?"

The cloaked figure that antagonized Roxas from the earlier came by and took her hand, much to her concern. "Say no more, Naminé." They ordered. Namine's eyes lit up as she looked worried yet sad. She tried to convince them otherwise.

"But if no one tells him, Roxas will…" she tried to argue, only for the other figure to interrupt her again.

"It's best he doesn't know the truth."

It took a moment, but Roxas easily recognized this guy—He was the one who stole the 5000 munny from him! Getting somewhat angry, he yelled, "Hey! You're that pickpocket!"

The man paused, going silent before holding out his hand and creating a dark portal behind Roxas, only for the golden blonde-haired boy to hop away, looking at the portal fairly confused. However, the man then got in front of him and pushed him into the strange portal, and like it tended to lately, all went black.

XxXxX

(Twilight Town- Sandlot)

Roxas awoke in the Sandlot, rubbing his head and groaning a moment. The first thing he heard was Rai's voice. "Seifer, strike a pose, y'know!" He exclaimed. He didn't see what Seifer was doing at first, but he heard him do something.

"How's this?" He asked back.

Rai and his speaking quirk continued. "That's totally perfect, y'know!"

Roxas rubbed his head and looked over in the direction of the noise, noticing Fuu using Pence's camera to take a picture of a posing Seifer while Rai and Vivi stood around her. Enthusiastically and loudly, like usual, Rai suggested, "How 'bout one more, y'know?"

Roxas got up and stood to face them, rather angered. "What's that for!?" He yelled, catching the attention of the other four in the area.

"Keepsake." Fuu replied single wordedly.

Rai nodded, smiling and crossing his arms. "Those freaks in the white jumpsuits are gone, y'know!"

"Cakewalk." Fuu added. Well, not that they did very much anyway, but hey. At least the strange monsters were gone, so that was a positive. Roxas sighed, shaking his head a moment, before asking, "What were those things?"

Seifer crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, acting like it was obvious. "Outsiders, that's what."

Roxas only shook his head again as he kept listening to Seifer talk. "And if they don't wise up to the rules around here, I might have to take 'disciplinary measures'." He threatened, much to Roxas's dismay.

"Oh yeah, Seifer's always lookin' after the town, y'know!"

By 'looking after the town', what he really meant was probably 'being a pain in the neck to those around him that he didn't like'. Roxas was pretty sure that was what he actually meant, noting how much of a jerk Seifer and his buddies tended to be.

However, he then saw that Hayner, Pence and Olette had come into the Sandlot. And Hayner definitely was not pleased with this. Thinking that Roxas had betrayed them and was hanging out with Seifer and his lackeys (though this actually wasn't the case at all), Hayner simply huffed off, leaving the Sandlot as quickly as he arrived. Pence and Olette followed.

Seifer called after Roxas, "Hey! No chickening out of the tournament tomorrow!"

"We'll be waiting, y'know!" That only really worsened the situation, though Roxas didn't care. He ran after his friends and followed them to the Usual Spot.

He came in, with his friends looking a bit sad (yet also uncertain of what they saw). "So… you hung out with Seifer's gang today?" asked Pence.

"N-no…It's not like that…" Roxas began trying to explain. However, he then remembered something. "Oh right! How was the beach? Wasn't that today?"

"We didn't go. It just wouldn't feel right without you, right?" said Olette. She still seemed to appear somewhat sad, but was trying her best to be a bit happier.

Roxas briefly forgot about the Struggle Tournament, and almost suggested going to the beach tomorrow if Hayner, who seemed aloof in Roxas's presence, stated, "I promised I'd be somewhere."

Roxas remembered the promise then, but Hayner still seemed to be mad. As he waited for a response from his friend, all he got was, "I'm outta here." Then, Hayner was up and he was the first to leave. Roxas sadly and worriedly watched him go.

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Computer Room)

As it usually did, the screen became scrambled, with the screen stating "Restoration at 48%". They were almost halfway done with fully recovering Sora's memory. However, with Naminé's previous interference, DiZ was still pissed off as he sat at the computer. But, his oddly calm expression that was somewhat hidden by the wrappings on his face didn't convey any anger… yet.

The cloaked man was up against the wall like usual, with the shorter one by his side. But, he seemed rather confused. "Was that Naminé made of data?" He asked.

DiZ then began to convey anger this time. "No. Naminé hijacked the data herself. Look what she's done now… She's totally beyond my control!" DiZ then slammed down on the desk with his fist, causing the shorter figure to jump.

"Calm down." The taller figure requested to DiZ.

"It doesn't matter. As long as Naminé accomplishes her goal we needn't worry what befalls Roxas." DiZ said rather dismissively, with his back still turned to the other figures. Brown eyes glared from beneath the hood of the shorter figure as she huffed.

"Oh right. It's totally like everyone has complete apathy towards whether or not Roxas dies. It only matters that Sora wakes up. Roxas doesn't matter." She stated with very heavy amounts of evident sarcasm. DiZ rolled his eyes before looking back at her.

"You know very well that we need Sora to awaken. Your meddling in trying to stop us from recovering Roxas only led in vain, Guardian."

"I did it because I care about him, DiZ. There has to be another way to awaken him without killing Roxas."

"There is no other way, and you are aware of it," DiZ stated in response, looking away. "Convincing yourself otherwise is only causing you to destroy your own emotions. Roxas is a nobody. It doesn't matter what befalls him."

The girl began to tremble in anger a moment. "You…you have no say in what I feel. You aren't in control of my emotions." The girl growled under her breath.

"What was that, Penelope?" asked DiZ.

The girl let out an angry huff before shouting, "Oh, f*** off, old man! You don't govern my feelings!"

Penelope stormed out and slammed the door with full intensity behind her afterwards. DiZ simply shook his head and focused on the computer.

There were no words to be said after the outburst that she had made moments ago.

XxXxX

 _In the Rising Falls of Hollow Bastion, the brown-haired boy and the girl, along with the dog and the duck were facing off against the silver-haired boy as a large beast was somewhat collapsed in pain from a short battle prior. He took the Keyblade from the brown-haired boy, much to his surprise and shock. "You don't have what it takes to save Kai-. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the door… and change the world."_

 _Then, they were in a hall of some kind of castle. The girl was up on the area of the stairway, trapped by a wall. The brown-haired boy faced off against the silver-haired boy alone as the dog and the duck were beside the other boy. However, with a flash, it showed the dog saving the brown-haired boy from a Dark Firaga spell. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora, cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together!"_

 _It then showed the duck joining him. "All for one and one for all!"_

 _This whole scene seemed scrambled, really. "My friends are my power!" exclaimed the brown-haired boy, who reclaimed his Keyblade. Then, there was another flash, as the brown-haired boy passed by a cloaked figure, and blocked a blue wave of energy from the man, sending it at the castle's mortar and stone._

 _It then changed into another scene. The silver-haired boy was possessed by a manner of darkness, and he tried to take another's heart, being the red-haired girl's (who was still in a comatose state) out of the brown-haired boy's body. But he didn't let him, and the brunette girl was by the brown-haired boy's side. With another flash, though, the brown-haired boy released the red-haired girl's heart, and with another, the red-haired girl saved the brown-haired boy, who was turned into a creature of shadow, from many more._

 _In another place, the red-haired girl gave the brown-haired boy her lucky charm, and told him to take good care of it. Then, at the ruins of the castle, the boy and the brunette girl sealed its Keyhole._

" _Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."_

XxXxX

 _The Fourth Day_

Roxas awoke, and he looked out the window, recalling his and Hayner's promise. He hoped to fix the conflict the two of them had the previous day due to the misunderstanding Hayner had when he saw Roxas with Seifer's gang. For a moment, Roxas moved like he was fighting with a Keyblade, though he was still fairly unsure what it did and what was going on.

"What a mess…" grumbled Roxas. He scratched his head before getting up and getting ready. He went to the Usual Spot later on, only to find that his friends weren't there. Confused, he left and headed through the marketplace.

One of the shopkeepers called out to him. "Hurry to the Sandlot! You're going to be late!"

Roxas nodded and kept running, eventually heading to the Sandlot. Tons of civilians from the town were gathered to watch the Struggle Tournament. Though Roxas saw his friends, he also saw a strange figure in a black coat. They seemed invisible and indifferent to the rest of the crowd, but they didn't seem to be the same one that mugged him.

Roxas then came up on stage with the other competitors. Pence and Olette smiled at each other from the crowd, but also at their friends. "Who are you going to root for?" asked Pence to the other brunette girl.

Olette was able to easily answer. "Both of them, silly!"

Then, fireworks went off in the sky and the crowd cheered with excitement for the coming tournament.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash! That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who will be the one to break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer!?" began the Producer.

"Seifer, y'know!?" shouted Rai.

"And who will leave today as our new Struggle Champion!?" yelled the Producer, who pumped up the crowd.

"Hayner! Roxas!" cheered Pence and Olette.

"Setzerrrrr!" yelled the rest of the crowd (and especially the Setzer fangirls, who were probably shouting the loudest of all).

"Yes, the crowd is fired up, so you know what's next. Let's…"

"STRUGGLE!" shouted the crowd.

Then, the producer came off the stage to allow for the announcer to come in. More fireworks were set off as the announcer came onstage and was ready to commentate for the event.

"Hey, now. It's time to introduce today's combatants! The four bad boys who struggled their way through the preliminaries!" greeted the announcer, who then got to announcing the final four. "Regular finalist and head of Twilight Disciplinary Committee: Seifer! Completely out of nowhere—who knew he'd make it so far this year? Vivi! An underground favorite and local attitude problem: Hayner! It's his first trip to the finals! And Struggler number 4, who happens to be my absolute favorite customer: Roxas!"

Onstage, Hayner looked to Roxas. Roxas returned the gaze, only for his friend to solemnly look away, worrying Roxas. Still, the announcer kept talking to the crowd.

"So—who will win this sweltering summer Struggle!? Who will take home the grand prize? The summa cum laude of Struggle- the Four Crystal Trophy! AND… a chance to take on our defending champion, Setzer!"

Setzer, who was also onstage, held up the championship belt that would be given to the winner of the Tournament if he were defeated. The announcer smiled and nodded before going back to talking again. "It won't be long now, folks. I'd suggest our challengers went over the official Struggle rules before we begin!"

As it settled down a moment, with the announcer telling the four the rules, the first battle was between Hayner and Roxas. The producer gave Roxas and Hayner each a struggle bat and patted them on the shoulder. As if to intimidate him, Hayner pointed the bat at Roxas, who frowned and relatively appeared unhappy. "Hey… sorry about yesterday." apologized Roxas.

Hayner frowned at his friend and raised an eyebrow at him a moment. "What, you still worried about that? You need to learn to let that stuff go."

"I've got a lot on my mind." Roxas replied, somewhat sadly.

"Sorry, man." Roxas shook his head at Hayner, who then thought about it and frowned. With a smile on his face, he asked, "Wait, what am I sorry for?"

The two friends then smiled at each other. Pence and Olette, who were relieved, stopped their clapping and smirked at each other before focusing on their friends. Roxas readied for battle as the announcer spoke. "Our first match of today's struggle tournament will be between Roxas and his best friend Hayner!"

"Ready, Roxas?" Hayner asked his friend.

Then, with the countdown, the fight began. It wasn't too difficult for Roxas to win and overpower Hayner, though it wasn't like Hayner was a pushover. In fact, Roxas basically made it look easy to win though of course, it wasn't entirely so. "And the winner is Roxas!" The announcer held up Roxas's arm, and the boy smiled, waving to the crowd. "Not even friendship will slow this kid down. And Hayner put up a great fight, too."

After his hand was released, Roxas ran over to Hayner, who was sitting down on the stage. "I lost! Aww, I can't believe it!" He exclaimed, standing up. His brown eyes looked into Roxas's. "I guess I taught you well."

"I had a lot of fun fighting you."

Hayner smiled a moment, only to frown and cross his arms. "Yeah, well I didn't, wise guy."

"Hey, let's find a way to cheer you up." Roxas suggested. Hayner put the suggestion down though.

"Nah, that's alright." Hayner then gave Roxas a friendly punch on the hand before leaving and almost walking into Seifer, who was coming up onstage. Like usual (as it seemed), Seifer wasn't in the best mood. "Out of the way." growled Seifer.

Hayner smirked at him. "You in a rush to lose?" He taunted him before getting offstage.

As Roxas was about to do so, only to be startled by the sudden appearance of Vivi at his side. Vivi simply looked up at Roxas and giggled at him as he got offstage, leaving the second round competitors alone. "Don't mess with your elders." Seifer warned Vivi. His blue eyes had somewhat of a threatening glare, though it really didn't seem to bother Vivi all that much.

"Whew, just look at those sparks fly! I guess Seifer didn't expect to fight one of his own boys!"

Seifer and Vivi had a face off then, but something was off with Vivi. Vivi suddenly flew at Seifer, who managed to jump back, but Vivi was in pursuit of him. Hayner was taken aback. "When did Vivi get so tough?" he asked his friends. Noting that normally, Vivi seemed to flee or cower away in a fight (noting the encounter with the strange creatures the other day), this seemed weird.

Seifer was struggling to hit Vivi as Roxas shrugged. Vivi slashed at Seifer with the struggle bat, only for Seifer to block and finally land a hit on him and get him away, causing Vivi to drop a struggle orb. Noting how the Struggle worked, Seifer tried to grab it.

However, that didn't happen. As Seifer lunged for the orb, Vivi made a comeback and knocked Seifer over, surprisingly winning the fight. It all happened so fast, and everyone in the crowd was taken aback, trying to process what just happened. The cloaked figure in the back found something to be off.

"I-I'm not sure what just happened… um… but… the winner is Vivi! In a positively blistering comeback!" exclaimed the announcer. Seifer sat up and shook his head, glaring at Vivi. Roxas approached the stage, knowing that he was to fight Vivi soon.

"That's not Vivi." Seifer grumbled. Roxas stared at him confusedly, not understanding what he meant. Looking at Roxas, Seifer then instructed, "Thrash 'im."

Getting up and going, basically forfeiting the struggle, Seifer left with Rai and Fuu, ditching Vivi there at the Sandlot. "It looks like Seifer's withdrawn from the Struggle for third place." said the producer, which somewhat excited Hayner, now that he was in third place rather than fourth.

Roxas and Vivi then received a struggle bat from the producer, who told them, "Keep it clean, fellas." The opponents stared down at each other as the producer left the stage.

"And now, the match you've been waiting for: Roxas vs. Vivi!" the announcer exclaimed to the crowd.

So, with a countdown, Roxas and Vivi began fighting. But, like with the fight with Seifer, something was definitely off. Roxas fought him, but as he was getting down to the last strike to finally win the battle, time froze as Roxas was forcibly stopped. He heard a groan of dismay from the crowd. "Oh no. Not this again!" exclaimed a feminine voice.

Roxas looked around to try and find the voice's source (as it seemed familiar), only for 'Vivi' to turn into one of those strange white creatures from the past few days. And there wasn't only one. In fact, more of them appeared. "Again!?" asked Roxas, as his bat turned into the Keyblade again. He looked upon it, knowing what he had to do. His eyes were filled with determination as he got into a fighting stance.

Roxas fought the strange white creatures yet again, not noticing another figure was watching from behind him nor did he notice the more feminine figure coming closer in alarm, as they took off their hood and their long brown hair cascaded out. When Roxas won the battle, he was fatigued and worn out from all this. However, he was then startled by someone clapping behind him (being another cloaked figure) and he turned around.

"Roxas. All right. Fight fight fight." said the cloaked figure, who sounded like they were a guy. Their voice was somewhat enthusiastic yet not, though Roxas didn't recognize them in the slightest. The person seemed rather disappointed as they walked closer to Roxas. "You really don't remember? It's me. You know, Axel."

Taking down his hood, the man revealed his flaming red hair and piercing green eyes. However, Roxas was unable to recognize him or his face. "…Axel?" asked Roxas in response. It seemed very vaguely familiar, but then, Roxas was certain he didn't recognize the name.

"Talk about blank with a capital 'B'. Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't gonna crack this one." Appearing in flames, his chakrams showed up and Axel caught them in his hands. Roxas had no clue what was happening. A struggle tournament was happening one moment, and in the next, this happened.

"Wait a sec, tell me what's going on!"

Axel looked around before he began speaking. "This town is his creation, right? Which means we don' have time for Q&A. You're coming with me, conscious or not. Then, you'll hear the story." Axel prepared to fight, only annoying Roxas even more from the lack of answers. When a strange presence flew around Roxas, Axel stiffened up.

"Oh goddammit. Get on with your fight already before he comes in!" exclaimed the girl, and Roxas noticed her, finding her familiar from somewhere. Axel noticed her too, and was slightly dismayed by her presence, but she wasn't the current focus. The two looked at each other once more.

Still, Roxas had no idea what was going on, and it was making him mad.

"What's going ON!?" Roxas shrieked, throwing down the Keyblade in exasperation. It appeared again in his hand with a flash of light.

Axel, who still didn't respond, only brought up more questions. "Number 13. Roxas. The Keyblade's chosen one." Axel stated, readying to fight once more.

Roxas shook his head. "Okay, fine! You asked for it!"

"That's more like it!" So then, Roxas and Axel prepared to fight, the girl watching in silence and unease as to what would unfold next.

-o-o-o-o-

As much as I want to finish up the fourth day, goodness gracious alive! This chapter has gotten pretty lengthy at best. Despite that we're almost at the end of the fourth day, I have to unfortunately bring you all at a cliffhanger.

In the next chapter, we'll cover the rest of day 4, but also hopefully day 5 and 6. The final day will get its own chapter unless day 6 is unable to be covered in the next. I can't remember what the shortest day in this whole prologue segment is though (and I'm not going to replay Kingdom Hearts 2 to remember, noting the length of the prologue).

I don't really have much to say other than that.

Please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	3. Chapter 3: Existence

Let's pick off here we left off yet again, shall we? Also, I completely forgot that Roxas had six final days, not 7. The seventh day is when you-know-who wakes up.

Like usual, I own nothing but my OCs.

Here's chapter 3.

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 3: Existence

As Axel and Roxas faced off a moment, before fighting. Before attacking, Axel spun his chakrams in his hands before rushing at Roxas to strike, and he blocked, causing Axel to jump back and avoid Roxas's attacks before blasting fire at Roxas. It hurt when it hit, but that wasn't even the worst part.

"Do I ring any bells yet?" Axel asked, sounding rather exasperated. It made Roxas pause in his tracks a moment, though he then had to avoid more strikes from Axel as the girl still watched, somewhat panicked.

Axel charged up an attack before yelling, "BURN!" He struck and then threw his blazing chakrams, and Roxas took the blunt of it. He was able to make a comeback though when he struck back, and the two kept clashing.

The girl began to sense another presence and got worried about what was to happen next, starting to puzzle something together, and looking away a moment. Roxas made the last strike in that time and knocked Axel back, and they stopped fighting.

In a swirl of data, a man in a red cloak and his head wrapped with red bandages appeared, and with a squeak the girl hid. Roxas looked back in surprise at the newcomer. Axel, however, narrowed his eyes. "So it was you."

He moved back and spun his chakrams, catching them aflame before throwing them at the man. However, a barrier stopped him and he appeared to be completely unaffected. As if Roxas weren't confused enough already, the man turned to him. It was like he was either trying to persuade or confuse him more with his next move once he spoke. "Roxas, this man speaks nonsense!"

Axel spoke, and then Roxas turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. "Roxas, don't let him deceive you!"

So then, as Roxas was caught in a web of perplexion, both Axel and the other man began calling his name at him, and like a confused dog, Roxas was stuck in place. Everything seemed to swirl around him as it started to become too much to take. Roxas started to then fell onto his knees, covering his ears in alarm out of weakness. "Hayner… Pence… Olette…" He grumbled.

The girl peeked up from where she was hiding as Roxas stood up, yelling angrily at the sky, "Hayner! Pence! Olette!"

"Great job, you two! You broke Roxas even more." stated the girl before there was a flash.

Roxas paused a moment as he heard all this cheering again from the tournament, and he had the struggle bat in hand. Before him, he saw Vivi fall over on his face, and nobody had any idea what just happened, though it appeared Vivi lost.

Vivi got up and looked around. "Huh…? How did I get here?" he asked himself before dropping the bat and then heading offstage. Roxas apparently won, and his friends came up to greet him as he was proclaimed the winner of the tournament.

He still had no clue what was going on, but he heard the fangirls in the crowd. And they were squealing and cheering, "Setzerrrrr!"

"Roxas, it's starting!" informed Olette, as the current Struggle champion waved to the crowd. Roxas turned to face his opponent.

As they were handed the bats and the producer left, Setzer requested for Roxas to throw the match (so he could win). But Roxas preferred to battle. And he did, despite Setzer's bragging and how he said he'd regret it and stuff. But he didn't.

In fact, Roxas wiped the floor with Setzer and won, and as Setzer was about to say something, Roxas's friends ran over. The previous Struggle champion simply left the stage as Roxas received the Champion's Belt and the trophy.

With a smile on her face, the mysterious girl vanished.

Later on, after the tournament, Roxas and his friends went up and sat on the Clocktower, with Roxas splitting the prize of the trophy with his friends. He gave them each one of the four crystals and they smiled, thanking him as they admired it in the sunlight. Roxas took the blue crystal. And then, as Olette was passing out sea salt ice cream, Roxas stood up and lost his balance, falling off the ledge.

Something weird happened while he did.

XxXxX

(Destiny Islands- Main Island)

A girl with deep red hair that went a bit past her shoulders was walking up a hill as it hit sunset, carrying her school bag in one hand. Her friend called after her as she was walking. "Kairi! Wait up!"

Kairi paused and turned around, with the other girl, being Selphie, meeting up with her. Walking side by side, the two of them went up the hill together. With a smile, Selphie proceeded to ask, "Hey, do you feel like going out to the island? Tidus and Wakka are all wrapped up in their ballgame and they won't go with me."

Kairi sadly looked at Selphie and began walking a bit faster. "Not today, sorry." She replied, leaving the other girl in the dust as she paused, somewhat shocked. Selphie was visibly disappointed.

"Aw, why not?" she complained, and Kairi paused in her tracks.

"Do you remember those boys and that girl who used to hang out with us?"

"Riku? And… um, Penelope, I think?"

Kairi nodded. Selphie then sighed, adding, "I wonder whatever happened to Riku. I sure miss him (and I guess Penelope too, but we didn't really talk all that much)."

The other girl's hair blew in the breeze a moment. "They're far away. But I know we'll see them again."

Selphie put her hands behind her back and smiled. "Sure. Of course we will."

"And that other boy?" Kairi asked, trying to recall their name. Selphie didn't seem to remember who she was talking about, looking to be in disbelief as she raised an eyebrow. "What other boy?"

"The one who was with Riku and me all the time- and we played together on that island. His voice always used to be there… but now it's gone." Kairi replied, staring at the sunset solemnly. "I can't think of his face, or his name. I feel awful about it. So I told myself- I'm not going to the island until I remember everything about him."

"Are you sure you didn't make him up?" Selphie asked, somewhat curious as she definitely didn't remember him.

Kairi nodded in response, but paused when she heard another boy's voice call her name. " _Naminé?_ " They seemed to be talking to her in her head. Kairi put her hand on her head, somewhat confused by what she just heard.

XxXxX

As Roxas was falling to his death, he tried to communicate with Naminé somehow. "Naminé…? What's happening to me?" He tried to ask her. However, he didn't hear Naminé's voice in reply. In fact, he heard the voice of another girl.

" _Who are you? And that's not my name. I'm Kairi._ "

"Kairi… I know you. You're that girl he likes."

" _Who?_ _Please, a name!_ "

"I'm Roxas."

" _Okay, Roxas, but can you tell me HIS name?_ "

Another voice spoke through Roxas in his head all of the sudden. He could've sworn he heard it before somewhere. " _You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi!_ "

Roxas heard Kairi gasp. " _O-kay, I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with an 'S'!_ "

For Roxas, it then went black.

As for Kairi, she was collapsed on the ground all of a sudden, concerning Selphie, who had no idea what just happened. When she awoke and began to rise, realizing something, Selphie put her hands on her friend's shoulders as she knelt by her. Her green eyes seemed concerned. "Are you okay?"

Kairi nodded, and quietly, Selphie stood up. Afterwards, Kairi stood up and stared at the Play Island, before looking at Selphie and grinning. Then, she hit the ground running as a revelation had just gone through her mind. She decided to head to the beach, though Selphie honestly had no idea what the heck just happened. Her friend reached after Kairi, but could do nothing as she was left in the dust, standing alone on the hill.

Then, Selphie finally caught up with Kairi, who was standing on the beach, staring out into the distance and holding a sealed bottle in hand. It contained a letter in it. "Kairi…? What's wrong?" Selphie inquired, furrowing her eyebrows together.

Kairi ran a hand through her hair and smiled, kneeling down and setting the bottle into the sea as it drifted out into the ocean. She watched it drift off as Selphie knelt down beside her.

Selphie was puzzled. "What's that?"

"A letter… I wrote it yesterday to the boy I can't remember. I said that no matter where he is… I'll find him. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remembered that we made a promise, something important. This letter is where it starts. I know it."

"Wow… I hope he gets it."

"He will." Kairi replied. A grin appeared on her face as she finally remembered his name, muttering it to herself. "Starts with an 'S'. Right, Sora?"

Kairi pronounced it a bit weird at the ending, adding emphasis onto it, but hey. At least she finally remembered his name.

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Computer Room)

Sora was getting really close to recovering all of his memory, according the computer. "Restoration at 79%" it stated.

DiZ was especially pleased by the speed in progress. The taller cloaked man stood beside him, though the girl, who had her hood down this time, was staring at the wall. "His progress is astounding." He said.

Somehow, the cloaked man got Roxas's crystal, which he juggled in his hand a bit before stopping and turning to DiZ. "So what happened?" He asked, as he placed the crystal in the stolen munny pouch. Penelope curiously watched him as he walked over and stood closer to DiZ.

"Namine's encounter with Roxas put his heart in contact with Kairi's. And that, in turn, affected Sora. You see?"

"Naminé… she's a wonder."

"She wasn't born like other Nobodies. She can interfere with the hearts and memories of Sora and those aligned with him."

"AHEM." Penelope coughed from the back, and DiZ rolled his eyes.

The cloaked figure was curious, though. "But whose Nobody is she?"

"I could tell you…" began DiZ, who looked at the cloaked figure. "But first, perhaps you could tell me your true name?"

He took off his hood, revealing silvery-white hair and amber-orange eyes. "It's Ansem."

DiZ went silent, frowning a moment as he looked away before he burst out into laughter. Amused, he then said, "It's an honor, Ansem!"

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Oh look. You use your power, harm Roxas, harm me, and now you're calling yourself Ansem. It's so funny that it's stupid." She huffed, before leaving the room, and allowing the progress of Sora's memory recovery to keep going.

XxXxX

 _The Fifth Day_

Roxas had a dream where he was falling into the darkness of a void, only to suddenly wake up and find he was ok… somehow. And that he also somehow wasn't in the hospital with broken bones and stuff. "I'm dreaming… But which parts… were the dream?"

He didn't understand it. But like usual, he got ready and met up with his friends in the Usual Spot. He was quiet, pondering over somethings as Olette stood in front of Hayner and Pence with her hands on her hips. Then, she stormed over to Roxas, putting her hands on her hips before moving them and crossing her arms with a frown on her face. For some reason, she was angry about something and he didn't understand what it was or why.

"Only three days left of summer vacation—so don't even mention that assignment!" exclaimed Hayner.

Olette glared at him. "But we agreed we'd get it finished today." She retaliated, still glaring down at Roxas, who refused to look at her.

"Yesterday… I fell off the station tower, didn't I?" He asked, somewhat avoiding the topic of the assignment because he was really confused.

But… it didn't seem to happen? Or at least, according to Hayner it didn't. "You wouldn't be here if you did! But man, that was a close one!"

Olette stormed over to Hayner, still very much angry. "Stop changing the subject!"

"Okay already. You win. We'll do the homework." Hayner complained. "Stupid independent study. So, anybody got any bright ideas for a topic?"

Roxas suggested investigating the weird stuff that had been happening to him, only to find out that it was all settled already, and they were to do that tomorrow. Their focus today was researching the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town (which was Pence's idea).

Though they were just rumors, it was the idea they went with.

Olette and Hayner went to find any new rumors, while Pence and Roxas researched them.

Basically, the whole day was very long winded and treacherous as they searched—especially for Roxas, as despite that they all seemed to be disproven, Roxas witnessed all of the weird stuff that had happened according to the rumors. Pence got disappointed with each rumor that was disproven.

The sixth one was about a ghost train, which Roxas saw, though the others didn't. They appeared to be worried about him, since his friends didn't see it, even when they went to the station. They were going back to work on the paper when Roxas asked about the seventh wonder, only for Hayner to storm off. Apparently, the last one was about a girl in white who appeared in the second floor window of the abandoned mansion past the forest of Twilight Town. When Pence talked about it though, he seemed rather despondent and unenthusiastic.

So, Roxas went to the forest and to the gates of the mansion by himself to investigate the rumor. Pence showed up behind him and walked over, mentioning how they were going to investigate the mansion as it was rather suspicious.

Upon looking into the window, Roxas noticed the girl in white- Naminé- and there was a flash. He appeared in a white room with a white table that had two chairs by it, and the walls were covered with drawings.

He then heard himself talking to Naminé, though he couldn't see her anywhere.

" _Roxas…"_

"Naminé?" He asked, looking around. He still couldn't find her, but he focused on a drawing that appeared to have him, Axel and two other cloaked figures present in it. "Is that… me? And Axel's here too…"

" _You ARE best friends…_ " Naminé explained.

"Very funny."

" _Don't you want to know the truth about who you really are?_ " He heard Naminé ask him curiously. Roxas simply disagreed with her on the very notion of the subject matter.

"No one knows me better than me."

" _Of course…_ "

Roxas approached another wall, somewhat confused as he decided to talk about the happenings that had been occurring to him. "But… I don't get what's been happening lately."

He looked at a picture and noticed the brown-haired boy, the duck and the dog. The brown-haired girl appeared to be in the back of the picture, behind the dog. " _You know these four, don't you?_ "

"Yeah. Sora, Donald, and Goofy. And there's Penelope in the back. They're from the dreams…"

" _About a year ago… Some things happened, and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. But now… I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon Sora will be his old self again. The process has been affecting you, too, Roxas._ "

"You mean… the dreams?"

" _Yes… You and Sora are connected. And…in order for Sora to become completely whole again…He needs you._ "

"Me? What for?"

" _You hold half of what he is…He needs you, Roxas…_ "

"Naminé?" It then all flashed back to white, and Roxas found himself now sitting across from Naminé at the table. The door was slightly opened, and almost like something from before was mimicked, the brunette girl watched them. But she seemed really sad.

"Naminé… who are you?' Roxas asked her from across the table.

"I'm a witch with power over Sora's memories and almost all those around him." she replied, somewhat paraphrasing words she remembered someone calling her not that long ago.

"A witch?" He asked, somewhat shocked. The girl watching looked away and closed the door a little more, only deciding to listen.

Naminé sadly put a hand to her chest, explaining, "Well… that's what DiZ called me. But I don't know why I have this power… I just do. I'm not even sure there's a right way for me to use it."

"Hmm… I can't help you there." Roxas said back rather sadly, and Naminé only slightly tilted her head, smiling back at Roxas a moment. The golden-blonde haired boy looked out the window. "It's funny… Suddenly I feel like I don't know myself at all… I guess I would like to know. What do you know about me… that I don't?"

Naminé looked down before sadly replying, "You… you were never supposed to exist, Roxas."

"What…? How can you even say such a thing…even if it were true?"

The door was finally closed as the other girl finally left, as Naminé apologized to Roxas. "I'm sorry. I guess some things… really are better left unsaid."

The white curtains drifted in a sudden breeze as it flashed white again. Roxas was out of it for a moment as he stared at the window, now outside of the mansion. Pence nudged him on the shoulder few times as he tried to snap him out of it, and it worked. Roxas looked at Pence. "Did you see her?" He asked.

"Yeah. Watch the window- closely."

Pence and Roxas stared at the window. However, nothing happened, and the curtains drifted in the breeze. Naminé appeared in the window again, though Pence didn't seem to see her, and it seemingly disproved yet another rumor. Disappointed, Pence and Roxas decided to head to the Usual Spot to meet back up with Hayner and Olette.

Olette was waiting for them as they came back. "Hey guys, how did it go?"

"The girl in the window turned out to be a curtain flapping in the wind."

"I figured as much. The report's already done."

Roxas was looking down and thinking about what happened as Olette and Pence spoke, tuning them out until they addressed him. "You know… we only have two more days together." Olette said to Roxas.

"Huh?"

"Summer Vacation, remember?"

"Oh… right." Roxas replied to her as he looked away.

They met up with Hayner on the clock tower, as he was sitting down an eating sea salt ice-cream by himself. They momentarily discussed what they were going to do for the next two days before laughing at a comment Pence made after Hayner said something about getting an ulcer (from being reminded of the last two days). Roxas was rather despondent, still thinking about everything he had experienced and that meeting he had with Naminé.

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Library)

In the mansion, DiZ was sitting in a chair by a broken desk as "Ansem", who was hooded, approached him. "Why did you show him the train?" "Ansem" asked, out of curiosity.

"Because he missed the trip to the beach"

"Hmph… that's almost kind of you."

"Now… what about you? Are the holes in your memory starting to fill in?"

"Yes… the haze is clearing."

"The same thing is happened to everyone who had ties to Sora," began DiZ, only for Penelope to walk in, appearing rather gloomy as she got a book. "…Except for the Guardian. I'm unsure how her memory works, though it's difficult to access them."

"I can hear you, old man. I'm not deaf!" Penelope exclaimed as she looked back at DiZ, glaring at him before lightly biting her lip a moment as she browsed through the bookshelf present.

DiZ went back to what he was saying, going back ono the topic of Sora. "Very soon, to them, he'll be like a good friend who's gone away for a year."

"Ansem" sat down in another chair across from DiZ and the broken desk. "I've waited, and now I want to know. What is it that you want?"

"Revenge." DiZ finally said. Penelope coughed a moment, finding she was right about old assumptions, and she glared back at DiZ, her eyes flashing purple.

"Revenge…"

"Now, for the finishing touches. First, we must dispose of Naminé. She did a splendid job with Sora, but it's high time she disappeared. Roxas isn't the only one who was never meant to exist. Take care of it, Ansem." DiZ ordered. A book was chucked at DiZ, and he barely avoided.

The two men stared at the brunette girl, who was in a mix of shock, but also anger. "You… you want to kill off Naminé? Now that she has no use to you? God, you're a monster!" exclaimed she, her breathing somewhat shaky. "Sora shouldn't have needed to have two sacrificed just to awaken, and one of my friend's times is coming soon. But… three aren't needed as disposable pawns just for your ideals, DiZ!"

DiZ said nothing to Penelope in response. Deciding not to attack him, she headed towards the door. Not looking back, she stated, "I hope you end up paying for what you've done to others. Hopefully, it's with your very existence."

The Guardian of Light and Darkness opened the doors, before slamming them behind her.

" _Restoration at 97%_ "

XxXxX

 _The boy and his friends, or rather- Sora, Donald, Goofy and Penelope- stood in a world of emptiness in purple, known as the End of the World. "Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" Goofy asked._

" _Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right? But, if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's going to happen to this place? And to us?" Sora asked._

 _Another flash, and the quartet were in a painful battle with the large demon known as Chernabog. Then, to where Sora and Penelope were floating in the darkness along with Donald and Goofy. Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, spoke to them. "All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."_

 _Penelope and Sora then fought Ansem in a final showdown, recovering Donald and Goofy when they appeared to be lost. "That's not true! The heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned deep down, there's a light that never goes out!" Sora exclaimed._

 _Then, Ansem's defeat as he struggled to open the door to Kingdom Hearts. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness!"_

" _You're wrong. I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is light!"_

" _If Kingdom Hearts were only light, and if darkness came from people's hearts, and if there was only light in the world, then isn't Kingdom Hearts technically light and darkness?" asked Penelope as it slightly glitched afterwards._

 _Then, at the door as it seemed to be leaking out darkness. Behind the door, Mickey called out to Sora and Penelope both. "Now Sora, and you too, Guardian Penelope! Let's close this door for good!"_

 _The four of them helped close the door of Kingdom Hearts shut. Riku, from behind the door, lastly told them, "Take care of her."_

 _Sora and Penelope then went over to Kairi, who appeared. The boy and the red-haired girl called out each other's names, though she nearly felt over if Sora hadn't caught her. Penelope was somewhat distanced. "Kairi, remember what you said before? I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you! I promise!"_

" _I know you will!" Kairi called back in response. Penelope tried to apologize to Kairi only for her to be split from Kairi as she broke away from them and the others._

 _Sora, Donald and Goofy were then on a path and Penelope caught up to them. A dog came over to them with a letter to find King Mickey's seal, and they read the letter before starting to hit the ground running. With one final flash, Sora saw a strange figure in black before going to a strange white castle._

 _In a rocky beach in darkness, two figures in black spoke to each other, though it was brief. Then, it was to a neon-lit city in the rain, where a silver-haired boy with a blindfold and a boy in a cloak were fighting. Another person watched them from above. Despite the silver-haired boy's shouting when he was knocked to the ground, it appeared that the one boy had taken him down._

 _This was the final dream._

XxXxX

 _The Sixth Day_

Roxas woke up with a start and fell off of his bed this morning. He appeared to shift between the form of the brown-haired boy from his dreams (Sora; but it wasn't like he noticed this) to himself as he stood up. Looking outside the window, he saw birds flying past. Getting ready like he always did, he went to the Usual Spot to meet up with his friends.

He rubbed his head when he arrived. "Man, I could not sleep last night…" Roxas grumbled. However, unlike normal, he heard no response.

In fact, something was very much wrong. Roxas stared at his friends and reached towards Hayner.

But… much to his horror, his hand went right through Hayner.

It was like… it was like he didn't exist.

Roxas took a step back, his eyes widened as his friends laughed without him, not appearing to have any notion or acknowledgement of his existence. Hayner turned around and ran right through Roxas, with Pence and Olette following him. Roxas's breathing got shaky as he picked up that photo he and his friends took at the gates of the Old Mansion, but…

He wasn't present in the photo anymore. Just Hayner, Pence and Olette. Roxas used to be in the photo, but now…

Roxas dropped the picture and ran out of the Usual Spot, only to be cornered by the strange creatures in white. Axel appeared behind him, much to his dismay. Axel ran a hand through his fiery hair, appearing to be sad. "Look what it's come to. I've been given these icky orders to destroy you—if you refuse to come back with me."

The golden-blonde haired boy held his ground, straightening up and narrowing his eyes at Axel, deciding to clarify something as his face grew a bit more sympathetic. "We're… best friends, right?"

Axel awkwardly ran a hand through his hair again. "Sure… but I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for…" Axel suddenly realized what Roxas just said and perked up, looking somewhat astonished at first. "Wait a sec! You remember now!?"

"Y-yeah…"

"But, you know, gotta make sure and all. So, um…" Axel tried to ask Roxas a question to see if he truly remembered now. "What's our boss's name?"

Roxas was unable to respond. Axel appeared to be incredibly disappointed by this. "Can't believe this…"

With a stick in hand, Roxas was able to summon his Keyblade and he fought off all of the strange enemies that surrounded him as Axel gloomily watched. The two of them were about to engage in battle, with Axel about to throw one of his chakrams. However, the world paused and Roxas was about to engage, only to see something wrong. He stood up straight and heard a voice in his head.

" _Roxas, to the mansion! The time has come!_ " said the voice of a familiar man.

Roxas furrowed his eyebrows together and called out his "friends'" names to the sky to see if the world unpaused. However, it didn't, meaning that there was nothing he could do about it. Roxas turned away with a sigh and left, running to the Sandlot, leaving Axel alone.

Axel seemed upset now, knowing what he had to do. "The Roxas that I know is long gone. Fine, I see how it is."

XxXxX

(Old Mansion- Gates)

After fighting through the strange white creatures many times as they attempted to get in his way (Roxas guessed they were called Dusks or something), he eventually got to the forest. He walked through the forest, still battling through them as they tried to take him out. When he got to the gates, he saw a huge lock.

However, when he turned around, he only saw more Dusks. He backed up against the gate. "Don't call me and then lock me out…" He grumbled to himself.

Suddenly, Roxas remembered how Sora unlocked or locked a Keyhole. And it was with the Keyblade. He used the Keyblade to unlock it. It did so with a beam of light, which made the lock easy work. Roxas then ran in and didn't bother looking behind him.

A man in a black cloak appeared with a strange sword in hand when the Dusks came rushing after Roxas as the gates closed.

Roxas came into the foyer of the mansion and explored around a bit, getting through any of the creatures in white that came through his way. While he was at it, he also opened up any chests that he came across.

It took a bit for him to get anywhere though, though the broken table in what seemed to be present was suspicious, but there was nothing to it. A lot of things were broken in this place. When he decided to go up into the White Room, he looked around for any sort of hint. He then examined one picture that caught his eye (where it appeared to be him inn some kind of dark city).

Unfortunately, his ears began to ring and his head began to hurt. He then recalled a time where he appeared to be leaving, and he saw Axel. He remembered something about the Organization then.

He turned to see Naminé in her chair. "Organization XIII… they're a bad group."

"Bad or good, I don't know. They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something." Naminé began to explain.

"Searching? For what?"

"Kingdom Hearts. Funny?" asked Naminé back to Roxas.

He was a bit unsure what to say for a moment, but he was able to respond. "It's just, I think—I've been running away from the question I really wanna ask: What's gonna happen to me now? Just tell me that." Roxas requested, as he approached the table and put his left hand onto it. His blue eyes stared into Naminé's with concern and curiosity.

"Nothing else really matters anymore." He finally added.

Naminé was going to tell him, but she was forcibly paused and cut off from saying a thing. Then, she vanished from the room. This was just perfect (though it really wasn't).

In a flash of data, the man in the red cloak from the other day appeared. "There's no knowledge that has the power to change your fate." He stated.

Roxas shook his head. "Even if it doesn't, I wanna know. I have the right to know."

"A Nobody doesn't have the right to know. Nor does it even have the right to be." DiZ firmly stated to Roxas.

"But what IS a Nobody?" asked Roxas. As if on cue, the one man who antagonized Roxas a few days prior appeared with a flash of darkness.

"DiZ, we're out of time! Too many Nobodies!"

It was like everyone was gathering in the room, because from a corridor that appeared to be made of darkness, Naminé appeared out of desperation. "Roxas, Nobodies like us are only half of a person! You won't disappear! You'll be whole!"

" _But he will be gone! And that sucks for those who will suffer the most from the loss!_ " called a voice from outside the door.

Roxas, who looked upset, was taken aback. "I'll… disappear?"

DiZ turned around, and narrowed his eyes. "No further outbursts!"

When Naminé insisted Roxas wouldn't disappear, DiZ held her back and covered her mouth. The cloaked figure only blocked Roxas as he tried to help her, but when Naminé broke free, she spoke again, though DiZ kept trying to silence her. "Roxas! We will meet again. And then we can talk about everything. I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me. But we will meet again. Someday soon. I promise!"

DiZ dragged Naminé into the portal, and Roxas was unable to stop DiZ. Both the man in black and the other two vanished. There was a strange picture left behind by Naminé, which Roxas guessed to be a hint. The door then opened to reveal the one brunette girl. Despite she looked a bit older, and appeared sad, Roxas recognized her from his dreams.

"…I can't seem to protect anyone or do anything right." She grumbled under her breath before her brown eyes stared into Roxas's blue ones. "And I feel like my biggest failure was with you. I'm so sorry, Roxas."

Roxas frowned at her, raising an eyebrow. "Huh? Why are you apologizing?"

"It doesn't matter. At least, not anymore, anyway. I won't be able to save you from disappearing…" She sighed, turning away.

"You… you're Penelope, aren't you?" He asked. She paused, looking back at him for a moment before sighing. She motioned for Roxas to follow, and she led him to the library. She stood by the table and let Roxas in.

Roxas went over and examined the image on the table, seeing a crayon. He put the picture he found on the table and used it for reference when filling something in. Penelope quietly watched him. Upon finishing the drawing, it burst with light, and Roxas stepped back in response.

Penelope semi-expected this to happen, but she nonchalantly went up to a bookshelf and leaned up against it as Roxas ran towards the door. The light revealed a secret area, and Penelope was atop the stairs. She walked down and went to the doorway, calling to Roxas, "Enter when you're ready. I'll be in the next room."

She left Roxas to go to the other room. Roxas opened up a chest before turning around and following Penelope into what appeared to be a computer room. She was up against a wall and analyzed him as he came in. For some reason, though, the computer made this weird ringing noise that was frustrating to the ears. Roxas put a hand on his head as the noise made it start to hurt.

Penelope covered her ears. "Damn, that thing's loud! Make it stop, Roxas!" She cried as it was making Roxas cover his ears in pain. Roxas began to remember something. Upon realizing what is was, he got angry. The ringing stopped, and he straightened up, shaking before summoning his Keyblade. He then proceeded to smash the computer, impressing Penelope immensely as he made it not function. It was a glorious act of violence on technology in the finest hour of Roxas's current rage.

The both of them perked up and looked to the door when it opened. Penelope went into the next room over, and Roxas regained his composure before following her. "So, you'll need to go into the room after the next one before all is complete, but…" Penelope was cut off when Dusks suddenly appeared and attacked Roxas. She was trapped behind a wall in shock as she watched him fight.

But it wasn't the end. In fact, Penelope was taken aback when Axel strutted in, crossing his arms. His tone when he spoke at first was somewhat angry yet sarcastic (?). "Simply amazing, Roxas."

"Axel."

"Axel?! Why are you back in this place again?!" Penelope asked.

Axel glared at her, before huffing and turning to face Roxas. Something hit her when she remembered something a certain ball of light told her. "You really do remember me this time? I'm SO FLATTERED."

Penelope was backed into a corner when Axel suddenly lit most of the perimeter of the room on fire. "AXEL?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!? WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO LIGHT THE F***ING ROOM ON FIRE?!" She screamed, feeling really uncomfortable.

"You're too late!" Axel yelled at Roxas.

"AXEL, SERIOUSLY! THIS IS A BIT OVERBOARD!"

Axel trembled a moment before yelling back at Penelope, "Stay out of this, you! This doesn't have anything to do with you!"

Roxas proceeded to summon two Keyblades, being Oblivion and Oathkeeper. Axel was surprised he could summon two Keyblades, but that wasn't even the problem here. He summoned his chakrams and grinned at Roxas.

"Come here. I'll make it all stop." Axel stated, though Roxas stayed back.

Suddenly, Axel struck the floor, yelling "BURN, BABY!" and the floor appeared to be fiery, raising the temperature even higher than it already was. Everyone but Axel began to sweat really bad from the intense heat. Then, the two of them began to clash, with the both of them in the air a moment as they exchanged blows. Penelope somewhat saw, but she was too uncomfortable from the heat to even care. Roxas managed to overpower him and strike him down, making the fiery ground vanished and Axel was stunned for a moment.

However, Axel jumped back into the fire and rushed at Roxas, who very narrowly avoided until he did it a few more times. At one point, he yelled, "GET BACK!" as he blasted fire at him while his chakrams spun and somewhat blasted out a fire spell of sorts. Axel was able to slash at Roxas before yelling, "Got it memorized!?" and then sending pillars of fire at him.

"AXEL, OH MY GOD, WILL YOU LOWER THE TEMPERATURE PLEASE? HOW ARE YOU NOT FEELING THIS?!" Penelope yelled from behind the flames.

Axel made the floor all fiery yet again and rose the temperature, and Penelope watched the two of them fly up and clash in the air again. They fought for a while longer on their last legs, though Roxas was able to take Axel down. The flames finally diminished and Penelope wiped sweat off her forehead. Axel took a breather and Roxas watched him in silence, remembering when he left the Organization.

"Axel…"

"Let's meet again in the next life." Axel said with a smile.

Roxas nodded. "Yeah. I'll be waiting."

Axel then fell onto his knees, looking at Roxas as he appeared to "vanish" in a portal. "Silly…Just because you have a next life…"

As Roxas was walking down the next hallway to meet his fate, Penelope stayed in the previous room as Roxas saw Donald and Goofy in the Pods. She rolled her eyes and huffed. "…I know you're still kinda here Axel. I need to talk to you for a sec, so come back out now."

With another portal of darkness, Axel reappeared, still somewhat pained from the fight. He was trying to leave, but he didn't get why she of all people would be calling him back. But, he noticed she seemed sad.

"Someone I know told me that I wouldn't be the only one who suffered when Roxas would finally be gone. She told me that two would be affected the most by this. I was the first to suffer directly- since I failed to protect Roxas." She explained, as Roxas was beginning to head into Sora's Pod Room rather hesitantly.

Axel only listened, and Penelope weakly smiled and looked back. "Roxas… he's going to meet Sora soon. And now… I guess we'll have to suffer because of it. We'll both lose a friend, I suppose."

Penelope sighed, finally being able to open a full corridor of darkness. She walked near it. "I… I'm not going to meet him when he wakes up. I don't think my body will be able to take it, knowing that now, he's gone too. I guess out of the three of you, you're the last one, Axel."

A tear rolled down Penelope's cheek. "So… stay safe, alright? I don't wanna lose you too."

"Goodbye for now, Axel. Until we meet again." Penelope dismissed.

"Until we meet again." Axel replied back. The two were silent a moment for solemnly making their parting ways, all too aware of what would happen next.

XxXxX

As Penelope was talking to Axel, as said, he was passing through the next hallway, he saw Donald and Goofy in the pods furthest from the room. Roxas didn't understand why, but he supposed the next door would lead to some answers.

Opening one last chest with his Keyblade, Roxas went into the next room. It was far different from any other one he had seen in the mansion, and it was large and circular and the walls were a radiant white that appeared almost misty. A central pod was present, and that one man from earlier in the red cloak was there in front of the pod. "At last, the Keyblade's chosen one."

"Who are you talking to? Me, or Sora?" Roxas asked, keeping his distance.

"To half of Sora, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about in the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII. He seems more fitting than relying on the Guardian to do it."

"Why? Who are you?"

"I am a servant of the world. And, if I'm a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best."

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "Was that… was that supposed to be a joke?"

Since now, Roxas was mad. He summoned his Keyblade, shouting, "Because I'm not laughing!"

He charged at the man, trying to attack him, but Roxas just went through him. He was incredibly displeased by the end result. "My apologies. This is only a data-based projection."

Roxas screamed in rage as a response and violently struck and slashed at the data-based projection. He managed to actually destroy the projection with his Keyblade, but it didn't end his suffering. Roxas took a deep breath as he was faced away from the pod, trying to recover from that.

To spite Roxas, the man in red reappeared with a flash of data behind him. "Come, over here."

Roxas looked back at the man and the pod. He rose the arm where he carried his Keyblade somewhat back. He was still very much angered. "I hate you so much…"

"You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good."

"No! My heart belongs to me!" exclaimed Roxas, as he got in a fighting stance once more. He charged and struck through the projection again, though it vanished. Roxas then found it was inevitable as the pod opened up, revealing another boy with lighter spiky brown hair. They appeared to be asleep.

"Sora…" Roxas sighed, acknowledging what was about to happen next, and a saddened yet happy-ish expression appeared on his face. "You're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation is… over."

Then, Roxas joined with Sora, as he was supposed to. With the final requirement, Sora was able to finally awaken from nearly a year's sleep.

-o-o-o-o-

Ok, so this is the end of fairly long chapters for now I think. I would've split the sixth day into the next chapter, but I decided against it.

As for Penelope… well, she will be appearing in the beginning of the next chapter, or the next chapter may focus on her, depending on its length. We won't be focusing on Sora right away.

Two other characters will also be making their debut in this story as of the next chapter (though we already know who they are if you were also here during Re: 358/2 Days at the end). Mickey will also be showing up, but not only to Sora.

Once Penelope's part is done in the next chapter, she won't be appearing for a bit. She has to put herself back together.

But now, with this, our somewhat-but-not-really prologue is finished.

Please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	4. Chapter 4: Sora's Awakening

Here's the last chapter Penelope will be appearing in for a little while. Depending on the length of it, we may get to Sora's awakening, but it really just depends.

Like usual, I own nothing but my OCs.

Now, I present chapter 4!

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 4: Sora's Awakening

(Hall of Light)

Zia was somewhat saddened yet happy by the outcome of Sora's awakening. She felt somewhat at peace knowing that Roxas didn't decide to use violence on Sora, but she was also sad he was gone. For a while now, the lady of light knew that Penelope was already affected by this knowing the outcome, so she got why Penelope didn't want to see Sora at this time.

The woman almost wanted to see Penelope now. But she really couldn't, knowing the weakness of her powers. It would be far too dangerous to risk going out now, mainly due the Organization XIII's emergence. She feared that if she went out and were caught by nobodies now, with them somewhat knowing her disposition, she could end up being a prisoner. If not, she could die too with its risk, and she couldn't go into another comatose state now.

She knew that Penelope needed her, yet she could do nothing.

So now, it was time. She found a piece of paper and a pen and began writing something down (being the first thing in a long time). Upon adding her signature and reading over what she wrote (which was a letter), she did one last thing.

"Maria. Where are you?" She called. Maria appeared with a flash of light and Zia sighed in relief.

She created a pale yellow ribbon out of light fragments and rolled up the paper before tying it. Standing up, she turned to Maria. "I believe now is the time for you to meet Penelope. While you're there, could you please deliver this to her?" Zia asked as she approached, presenting the letter.

Maria's brown eyes stared at it rather puzzled before she took the letter and attached it to her belt under her tunic. She furrowed her eyebrows together and then asked, "Well…how will I know where Penelope is? I'm still not used to this idea of being her somewhat mentor."

Zia sighed. "She's in Twilight Town, Maria. Please, go to her."

Maria saluted Zia and straightened up. "Yes ma'am! Right away!"

The other woman scurried over to another side of the room on a platform and vanished with a flash of light like she came in. A sad smile appeared on Zia's lips before she turned around and moved back to the center of the room and sat back down, continuing to observe what was to happen next.

XxXxX

Penelope reappeared out of the mansion gates in the real Twilight Town, adjusting to the temperature a moment as she stepped out of her corridor of darkness. She was happy she could finally use one at this point, but she doubted she would be able to use it on her adventure with Sora as much (noting they had the Gummi Ship and the corridors were dangerous for most to use).

She ran a hand through her much longer brown hair. Now that she thought about it, she really had matured a bit more over the course of time Sora was asleep. She could tell she was a bit taller for one thing, and was a bit curvier as she was developing a bit more.

However, she wasn't going to take the time to look through a mirror. She knew Sora would be showing up outside of the gates pretty soon, so she decided to take her leave. The Guardian left through the forest.

She headed up to the marketplace plaza through there and silently walked through the streets. Her destination would be to the Train Station where the clock tower was as she knew she had someplace to go. Sora was probably going to be there at some point, but she didn't know when. Still, she could wait for him.

She had ended up waiting for him for nearly a year now, despite that it took a lot to wake him up.

…Like that girl and Roxas having to basically be sacrificed.

Penelope felt her heart twinge as she was saddened by it. Regardless of such though, she kept moving. As she was going up through the station heights, she decided to call for Zia. It was a bit fuzzy of what exactly she was supposed to do next.

Though, Zia didn't come right away. Penelope sighed. "Zia? Where are you? Can you even hear me?"

When she got a response, she didn't hear Zia's voice. "Hey-o! How are ya doing today?"

Penelope immediately flipped around to see a completely different person. Her brown hair was up in a ponytail, and she also happened to have a brown vest and brown fingerless gloves (with her boots also being brown). She was also wearing these capris lined with silver and a green tunic laced with brown ribbon. Her brown eyes also appeared cheery and enthusiastic.

There appeared to be something on her capris, as it went under her tunic, but was probably under her belt. Still, Penelope was unsure who she was, or why she appeared instead of Zia. She instinctively summoned Leviathan and aimed it at her. The woman put her hands up.

"Okaaay, you're a bit violent by the looks of it, but I'm not gonna hurt you. Zia sent me."

"…What? How do you know Zia? Who are you, for that matter?" Penelope asked, raising an eyebrow as she dismissed her Keyblade.

"I'm Maria! I'm kinda like Zia's secretary, assistant and her best friend."

Penelope frowned at her, summoning her Keyblade once more. "Last I checked, Zia didn't have any friends I think. How do I know you're not tricking me?"

Maria pulled something off of her belt, and it looked to be a letter. She offered it to Penelope, who dismissed Leviathan again and hesitantly took it. Pulling off the ribbon, Penelope proceeded to read the letter. It described the situation and why Zia wasn't there, and why Maria was in her place.

Though she was still suspicious, Penelope decided to trust Maria… but only for now.

"Fine. Why exactly are you here now, Maria?"

"I had to drop off that letter and introduce myself. Though you have somewhere you need to be, don'tcha?" Maria asked, putting her hands on her hips. Penelope perked up and nodded, turning in the direction of the clock tower.

She ended up ditching the other woman, but Penelope got why. "Okaaaay! C'ya later, Penelope! Just call me if you need anything!" Maria shouted before vanishing.

Penelope got up to the Station Plaza and into the station while Sora was awakening and a hooded Mickey Mouse was getting off of a blue and gold train (which was mysterious in itself). Penelope ended up bumping into him.

"Oh! Your Majesty!"

Mickey tensed up before looking to see Penelope. "Guardian Penelope? Wait, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sora?"

"I couldn't bear to see him right now. But I need to ask you something really quickly before you go."

"Alright then. Go ahead." Mickey permitted.

"After all this was over, I was wondering…"

XxXxX

" _Sora?_ "

It was dark, and Sora was unsure where he was, or who was talking to him. He was still somewhat sleeping when he replied. "Who's there?"

He heard voices from outside where he was at. "Sora!" The first voice he heard sounded like Donald.

"Sora, wake up." The second voice belonged to Goofy.

Finally, Sora awakened. The pod opened up again and he saw Donald and Goofy. As Sora was stretching, Donald and Goofy started bursting out into laughter. Why?

Well, you know Sora's outfit from KH1? That outfit?

Sora happened to be wearing that over the course of his year in slumber. And Sora happened to grow while he was asleep (which was expected, noting the process it took to wake him up).

So, his outfit…. Well, now it was really, really small on him. Like, hilariously small.

Like small to the point where the bottoms of his pants were basically at but also slightly above his upper thighs. Sora didn't really notice, but he was happy to see Donald and Goofy.

"Donald, Goofy!" Sora greeted them, hopping out of the pod and pulling his friends into his arms. As the three of them reunited, they hopped around joyously in a circle. Jiminy, who had also been asleep, climbed up on Sora's shoulder and stretched whilst yawning.

"That was some nap!" Jiminy exclaimed before hopping down to the floor.

"You mean; we were asleep?" Sora asked back, his eyes widening.

Jiminy shrugged. "I guess we musta been, or else we wouldn't be so drowsy."

"When do ya think we went to sleep?" asked Goofy to Jiminy, or at least anyone who knew.

Donald tried to recall when. Sora was the one who recapped everything as he pondered on it. "Let's see… we defeated Ansem…"

"Yep." said Goofy with a nod of agreement.

"...restored peace to the world...found Kairi... Oh yeah, and then we went to look for Riku. I think that's right so far." Sora stated, before looking at the group and having a quick mental roll call.

Sora then found something to be very much wrong. He, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy were all asleep, and now present in this room. He was pretty sure Penelope was with them during their last adventure, but she wasn't here.

"Wait… where's Penelope? Wasn't she with us when we started to look for Riku?" Sora asked, searching around.

"When we woke up, we didn't see her anywhere." Donald replied.

Goofy thought about it. "Maybe the journal has a clue. What does your journal say, Jiminy?" the dog asked to the cricket.

Jiminy decided to go and open up his journal to see if it could shed any sort of light onto this situation. He was somewhat upset and disappointed to find that literally all of his hard work was gone, but all he found was a sentence, which said "Thank Naminé".

"Gee, there's only one sentence... "Thank Naminé." Hmm... I wonder who that is." Jiminy reported to the others. Even if that were the case, it was rather unhelpful when trying to recall what happened. Or where the heck their other companion was.

So for now, the best thing they could do was try to adjust their surroundings. It was honestly the best thing they could do, noting they were asleep for a while and had no clue where they were. And if they looked around, they could maybe go and find Penelope.

That was the plan. And so, Sora, Donald, and Goofy headed out (with Jiminy hopping onto Sora's shoulder) to do some reconnaissance, figure out just what had happened over the amount of time they were asleep and also find Penelope.

It would be hard to start the adventure without one of their key party members, after all.

-o-o-o-o-

I suppose this was more of a 75% Penelope chapter and a 25% Sora one. Then again, I didn't want him to start traveling around Twilight Town yet until the next chapter. Especially noting how long the first three chapters were. Plus, this one was kinda short.

Still, despite she's mentioned, I believe I'll have Twilight Town and the Mysterious Tower exploration split up into a few parts. As result, Penelope won't be appearing for a few chapters, depending on how many chapters there will be and their length.

Other than that, please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	5. Chapter 5: Exploring Twilight Town

Hello everyone! Welcome back.

So, we left off with Sora, Donald and Goofy (along with Jiminy) finally awakening and going off to find out where they're at, but also find Penelope before resuming their quest.

I own nothing but my OC, who will only be mentioned in this chapter and in the next few until her reintroduction.

Here's chapter 5.

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 5: Exploring Twilight Town

For some reason, as Sora walked out of the few chambers that led into the Pod Room, much to his discovery, he found that he, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy happened to be sleeping in some kind of mansion. It wasn't actually some kind of laboratory as expected, which made it a mix of disappointment, relief and confusion all at the same time.

The only question was how they even got to this mansion in the first place; let alone how they ended up falling asleep in it. However, that wasn't the main concern at this time.

So, Sora, Donald and Goofy went out to the front of the mansion and acknowledged that they were in some kind of town- more specifically the outskirts of it. Sora found a few chests about the yard, so he quickly opened them before regrouping with Donald and Goofy.

So far, they were starting to figure out where they were. Except there was no Penelope anywhere, which was a letdown. Still, they'd find her eventually.

After going out of the gates and out of the mansion and through a forest, Sora and his friends ended up coming into town. Sora was starting to find familiarity in it from somewhere, but where it happened to be coming from was full of uncertainty in Sora's mind. As they were exploring about the streets and still trying to gather information, upon heading through the back streets, Sora noticed a red sheet that struck him as suspicious.

Curious of what lied beyond it, he went through it, with Donald and Goofy following. He ended up discovering three other kids about his age boredly lying about the room. One of the boys, who was blonde, quickly acknowledged the three newcomers and glared at them. "What do you want!?" He snapped, and he made Sora, Donald and Goofy tense up a moment.

"Uh, nothing. Just wondering what was back here." Sora replied, somewhat worried he aggravated the one boy by his existence. The blonde rolled his eyes a moment.

"Now you know. This is our spot." He said back, before looking away.

Another one of the boys, who had black hair styled upwards, was somewhat at a loss for words when he spoke, though he seemed to be analyzing Sora, Donald and Goofy somewhat carefully. "Uhh…"

"What?" Sora asked, shifting his eyes to him.

"You're…new around here, right? I'm Pence." He introduced, with a smile on his face.

The blonde boy got up. "Hayner. Nice to meet ya, but we got stuff to do, so catch ya later." said he, who left after saying that. Hayner really cut any further conversation with him at this moment rather short.

The only girl present there, who had brown hair and friendly green eyes, smiled at them before finally introducing herself to the group. "My name's Olette," she greeted, before moving onto another topic. "Hey, did you finish up the summer homework, yet? Independent studies are the worst, huh?"

Sora's eyes widened as he was a bit unsure, but nervous as to what Olette was talking about. "Homework?" he asked, looking to Donald and Goofy. The anthropomorphic dog and duck simply shrugged in response. They had no clue what she was talking about either.

"What're your names?" Pence asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, sorry. We're Sora, Donald and Goofy." Goofy introduced, pointing to who was who when he spoke.

"Hey there." Sora smiled at them, after his introduction.

Pence and Olette found their names familiar. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, we just met someone who was looking for you." Olette explained. At first, they thought it was maybe a clue to where Penelope was.

But it was somewhat better for another goal rather than a current one when Pence explained it. "He sure seemed to be in a hurry. He had a black coat on, so I couldn't see his face, but he had these big round ears." By that description alone, they easily figured out who Pence was referring to.

"The King!" exclaimed Donald.

"Where'd you see him?" asked Sora to Pence and Olette. Pence was the one who answered the question for him.

"At the station." replied Pence.

"The station! Thanks!"

Olette stretched before getting up. "Well, we better get back to that assignment." said she, as she was starting to leave. Pence followed her and had the last word.

"Later!" The two waved goodbye before going off.

Donald was excited from the newfound information they got about the King. "Oh boy! The King is looking for us!" exclaimed the duck very excitedly.

"Yeah! Let's get to the station!"

So, Sora and company left the Usual Spot. In order to really get to the station, they had to get through the Sandlot.

If you were to write it down on paper, it would actually sound simpler than it actually is. The reason being is because you might not consider who is in the Sandlot a lot of the time.

While Sora, Donald and Goofy were trying to pass through, they were met with more aggression. This is mainly because of the three present there (being Seifer, Fuu and Rai). Seifer looked up and glared, suspicious of the newcomers. "Hey you, where'd you come from?" growled he.

"Uhh…" Sora began, unsure of what exactly to say.

Seifer stood up. "Are you here to pick a fight or something?"

"Fight? We're not here to fight." Sora said, trying to end it calmly. Well, at first, until Donald butted in.

"Yeah, you big palooka!" Donald shouted at him. Seifer was visibly displeased, and quite frankly pissed at what Donald said, ending any hopes of a pleasant resolve.

Seifer cocked his head side to side a moment before saying, "Okay, smartalecks…Time to teach you how to behave in my town. Bring it!"

The head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee and his two lackeys got into defensive stances. Sora huffed at the action, and looked at Donald. "Man, this guy is a jerk."

Donald nodded in agreement, and then he and Sora got into defensive stances. Goofy looked at the two of them bewildered (noting that he was literally the only one who decided to act so aggressive). Fortunately, before anyone got screwed over in a fight, the one Struggle tournament producer ran over to them, shouting, "One moment!"

"If you're gonna fight, why not make it a proper Struggle?" suggested he.

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "…What?"

"You see, Seifer… I'm a really big fan."

Nobody had any idea what was happening, but it caught Seifer off guard as he began to stutter. "Wh-what do you want?"

"In other words, I want to see more of your "super cool" moves! You handled the tournament with real style, and you absolutely dominated the title match. But I just can't get enough. Don't you see? The matches are far too short!" exclaimed the producer, before he turned to Sora.

"And what's your name?"

"Sora." the lighter brown-haired boy replied.

The producer smiled at him. "Sora, if you ever want to fight a match, you just say the word."

Sora nodded in response. When it all settled down, he, Donald and Goofy continued making their way to the station in hopes of finding King Mickey and getting some more insight into what was going on.

XxXxX

(Twilight Town Central Station)

As Sora was getting to the Central Station, still joined by Donald and Goofy, as they were about to head up to the doors, they were suddenly surrounded by these strange creatures in white. They had no clue where they came from or why, but they had to fight. However, as they were fighting, more kept showing up, and the trio got overwhelmed and also exhausted fairly quickly.

Fortunately, a certain mouse king appeared on the ledge of the station. As the mysterious enemies were about to strike again, while Sora held up his Kingdom Key to block, Mickey swooped down and easily destroyed the enemies with his Kingdom Key D.

While Sora was in amazement by the King's elegant display, Donald and Goofy pushed Sora out of the way to see him. "Your Majesty?" asked Donald.

"Shhh!" Mickey immediately hushed Donald. "You gotta board the train! The train knows the way! Here."

Mickey then handed Sora a certain munny pouch before quickly heading off to the market street. Donald was somewhat disappointed by the short encounter. "Your Majesty…" He sighed after Mickey.

"The King… was that really him?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It coulda been…" Goofy began to say with a little doubt before quickly changing his mind. "Yep, I know it was!"

Donald bounced up and down a moment before saying, "Now we know he's okay!"

"The King was locked in the realm of darkness, right?" Sora asked, recalling the end of their first adventure when they first met Mickey. The meeting was short, but memorable.

"Uh-huh." Goofy agreed.

"But we just saw him…"

"Yep." Donald added.

"And if the King's here, that means Riku's here!" concluded Sora.

"He's gotta be!" exclaimed Donald.

Sora smiled, starting to really piece his long-term goal for his adventure together now that the steps were more clear. "Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku. Then he, Penelope and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us! What are you two gonna do?" asked Sora.

"Gawrsh, Sora. Do ya have to ask?"

Sora began laughing in response, much to Donald's alarm and confusion. He then got mad, and put his feathered hands on his hips. "Hey! What's so funny!?"

"Your face!" Sora exclaimed in response. The anthropomorphic dog and duck looked at each other before laughing along with Sora. Smiling, Sora then said, "What do ya say, guys? Let's stick together for one more journey… and find Penelope too so she can join us if she wants."

Donald and Goofy nodded. Except, the only problem was that with all this talking, Sora forgot where he and his pals were even supposed to be going in the first place. Mickey told them they were supposed to go to the train… train… Oh, right! The train!

Upon recalling it, Sora, Donald and Goofy ran to the doors of the station and opened them up, heading to the counter. Surprisingly though, three voices of those they had recently met called after them.

"Wait up!" Hayner hollered after Sora, Donald and Goofy, making them halt.

The other trio of friends caught up to them. "Hey Sora…" began Hayner.

"What?"

"Nothing, but…"

"We came to see you off. It just seemed like something we oughta do." Pence explained to the group.

A smile appeared on Sora's face. "Oh… really? Thanks!" exclaimed Sora, showing gratitude towards their actions. However, their interruption and farewell was interrupted by the ringing of a bell. "You should hurry and get your tickets." Olette advised.

"Right." Sora said with a nod, as he took out the munny pouch Mickey gave them as he went to the teller to get three tickets for the train.

Olette was surprised to see how it was an exact copy of her own munny pouch. When she showed it was the case, Sora and the other two were surprised, though now, Sora had to focus on getting the tickets. He shrugged at how there was an exact similarity, unsure how it happened. As he got the three tickets for himself, Donald and Goofy and went over to them, he appeared to be sad.

"I can't help feeling we won't see this town again…" He sighed. Donald and Goofy titled their heads to the side. They didn't know where that notion came from, but they still tried to help cheer Sora up. It was the best thing to do for now.

"Why not?" Donald questioned Sora.

"You're thinkin' too much." Goofy added.

"Yeah, you're right!" Sora said afterwards, positivity returning to him.

They started heading to the train. "Okay, let's go!"

Donald and Goofy smiled and nodded. Sora looked to Hayner, Pence and Olette and smiled at them, bidding them farewell. As Donald and Goofy got onto the train, they waved goodbye to the three that came to see them off.

As Sora was joining them on the train, Hayner stopped him. "Hey Sora. Are you sure we haven't met before?" He asked, getting Sora to pause and think about it.

"Positive. Why do you ask?" Sora asked, his sky blue eyes rather confused.

Hayner shrugged in reply. "I dunno."

Sora smiled back at him, though for some strange reason, a tear rolled down his cheek. Hayner, Pence and Olette looked somewhat surprised, as did Sora. Having no clue where the tear came from, Sora started to brush it off from his cheek.

"You okay?" Olette asked him worriedly.

"Y-yeah. Don't know where it came from." Sora answered her back.

Hayner smiled and chuckled at Sora. "Pull it together." He advised.

Sora nodded at the three. "Right… see ya."

Waving at Hayner, Pence and Olette, Sora finally got onto the train. He still waved to them as the door closed and the train left as Pence turned to Hayner and Olette. Sora took his seat on the train and he, Donald and Goofy watched as it rolled on.

Once more, Sora took out the munny pouch and analyzed it. In it, he found a blue crystal ball, and he held it up to the light. "You know…" Sora began to say to his friends as they sat down. "I'm sad."

"We'll be back." Donald said to Sora, trying to calm him down once again.

"Yeah. We can visit Hayner and those guys again." Goofy chimed in.

Sora tried to believe them as the train rolled out towards the sky, taking them ever closer to their destination.

-o-o-o-o-

There was one scene I was going to include at the end, but I decided against it and I will have it in the beginning of the next chapter. Other than that, I don't have much else to say.

Please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	6. Chapter 6: The Mysterious Tower

Here we are once again. I don't really have much to say to begin the chapter, so we'll just get to it.

I own nothing.

Here's chapter 6.

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 6: The Mysterious Tower

On Sunset Hill, there were three figures present. There was Naminé, who was sitting on a bench with a notebook in her lap; Axel, who was standing up; and then there was a hooded man who didn't show their face.

Walking to the wooden railing, Axel leaned up against it and watched the train as it left. "Guess that's that." stated he, as the train kept on going.

"Let's go." said the hooded figure to the other two. Axel didn't get how exactly they were going to pull that off, noting the current situation.

"Go where? It's not like we have homes to return to. We don't exist, remember?" Axel reminded them, as he stood upright.

Naminé slightly nodded. "Yes, it's true. We may not have homes. But there is someplace I want to go… and someone I want to see." The blonde girl looked down at her notebook, where there was a picture of Sora and Roxas holding hands.

"Same here." Axel looked over to the hooded man. "So, you think you might let us go? I know you're here to get rid of us, but…"

Naminé looked at the hooded figure surprised before pulling her notebook closer and looking at it once more. "DiZ wants to get rid of me?" she asked to herself. She was in disbelief at the time.

"Go." ordered the hooded man once again.

"You sure about this?" Axel questioned. The hooded man and Naminé looked at Axel, and then, the hooded man looked at Naminé.

"I owe you both." He then stated, causing Naminé to stare at him.

She didn't understand why he did. "For what?"

"Castle Oblivion. You helped us."

"Heh, you don't have to tell me twice." Axel said back. He opened up a dark portal upon moving his arm. Naminé focused on Axel, before shifting her eyes back and forth to the two figures a few times. Axel nodded, and then Naminé faced the hooded man. She clutched her notebook in her arms.

She smiled at the hooded man. "Thank you."

She finally stood up from the bench and headed slowly towards the corridor of darkness, keeping her eyes on the hooded man. Letting go from her gaze, she ran into the portal, and lastly, Axel walked in after her. He closed the portal behind him, leaving the hooded man behind.

XxXxX

(The Mysterious Tower)

The train finally arrived to its destination and pulled at the base of a Mysterious Tower on an island in the starry sky. The base of the tower had symbols of moons and stars inscribed on its base. Knowing that this must've been their destination, Sora, Donald and Goofy got off the train.

Unfortunately, after they got off the train, it disappeared. All that was left were the tracks that had allowed the train to get there. Sora giggled nervously knowing that now, they couldn't really leave (since they had no clue where the Gummi Ship was at this moment). "There goes our ride…"

Then, they noticed someone standing at the doorway of the tower. They were pretty big and burly, and like Donald and Goofy, they also appeared to be some kind of anthropomorphic creature. They looked to be some kind of cat.

So, Sora, Donald and Goofy decided to approach him. He seemed kinda suspicious at the moment, especially if he was hanging around the tower like this.

"What's goin' on?" Donald asked the cat.

"I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower's as big and tough as they say. Word is, he's a real powerful sorcerer. Which would make him the perfect bodyguard for me. See, it don't matter how tough he is-once he's a Heartless, he'll do as I say!" said the cat, who still wasn't looking at Sora, Donald or Goofy for that matter.

He should've been a bit more secretive about what he was doing though and at least looked behind him. But no, he didn't do that. Donald was visibly dismayed. "A Heartless?" he asked.

"That's right. They're those things that come outta the darkness in folks 'hearts. Why, with all those Heartless at her side, my dear friend Maleficent is gonna conquer everything! And since I got me a debt to pay, I'm goin' 'round to a bunch of different worlds and buildin' an army of Heartless, special for her. Why am I talkin' to you pipsqueaks anyway? Go on, scram! I'm behind schedule as it is." Wow, this guy talked a lot.

Too much, in fact. He basically revealed his plan (and did reveal his plan) without even looking at who he was talking too! Good grief.

Goofy didn't really approve of this idea. "You oughta find somethin' nicer to do."

"Says who?" asked the cat. He finally turned around saw who he was talking to, seeing a very unimpressed Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Wha…AAH! It's you!"

Donald and Goofy spoke in unison upon revealing this guy's identity. "Pete!"

"What are you two nimrods doin' here!?" asked Pete.

"What are YOU doing here?" Donald yelled back.

Sora was in the dark about what was going on. "You know him?" he asked.

"We sure do! Pete's been causin' trouble for ages! His Majesty banished him to another dimension a long time ago. I wonder how he escaped." Goofy responded.

Pete laughed before grinning and putting a hand on one of his hips. "You wanna know how, eh? Well, Maleficent busted me out, that's how! And now your world-no, no, no, all the worlds-are gonna belong to yours truly. Cause Maleficent's gonna help me conquer 'em!"

Oh, Maleficent. They knew that name from somewhere. "Maleficent… huh." Sora stated.

Then, the trio giggled. They were unsure if Pete was aware of this, but…

Well, Maleficent was long gone. In fact, she was basically gone for about a year. Did he not receive this news yet, or…?

"What are you laughing at!? Why, Maleficent's power is so great-" began Pete, who was about to speak of Maleficent's glory, only to be interrupted by Sora before Pete could even start.

"She's toast!"

"Huh?" asked Pete. He didn't seem to be getting the memo, which was unfortunate.

"Sorry, but Maleficent can't help ya now." Goofy explained.

Still, he didn't get it. He was close, but it was still a nope. Pete demanded for some answers. "Whaddya mean!?"

Pete finally got it when Donald started snickering. And apparently, he did know somewhat of the fact that Maleficent was basically dead. "You! So you're the ones that did it!"

Sora put his hands behind his head and looked away a moment. "Well… we mighta had something to do with it."

As a result, Pete wasn't pleased. He was angrier, really. Summoning Heartless to avenge Maleficent (or something), he shouted, "Heartless squad! Round up!"

Shadow heartless rose up from the ground.

…Really. This was the best Pete could do at the moment? Wow.

Well, maybe he had some more powerful Heartless trying to take down the tower master, but honestly, this was sad. The shadows surrounded Sora, Donald and Goofy, who fought them off and easily took them out. Pete was taken aback. "Y-you just wait! Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!"

"So, 'mighty' Pete, who lives in this tower anyway?" Sora asked, not really believing the "mighty Pete" thing, but thought he had an idea of who happened to live in this tower.

I mean, Pete did send Heartless after the guy after all. So he probably did have an idea of it.

"Oh, ya don't know, eh? Well, it's old Yen Sid. 'Course he's probably a Heartless by now!" exclaimed Pete.

Donald had a slight fangirl moment before asking. "Master Yen Sid lives here!?"

The first to even go into the tower was Donald, who bolted up the steps and slammed open the doors. He ran in, leaving the other three outside in the dust.

"Yen Sid is the King's teacher!" explained Goofy, putting Sora into awe.

"Wow. Sounds powerful!" exclaimed Sora.

Basically ignoring Pete and his existence now, Sora and Goofy ran into the tower, leaving Pete behind. Pete's jaw dropped, and he was left there as the doors closed.

The journey up the Mysterious Tower was very long. Like, it didn't realistically look like the tower was that tall, and that the stories in between were supposed to be there. Plus, to make it all worse, there was tons of Heartless on the way up (thanks to ol' Pete), so you'd probably have an idea of what they were doing on the climb up.

Though they wondered what they would see next as they got ever closer to the top floor.

-o-o-o-o-

This was a pretty short chapter, I guess, though I decided I'll wait until the next chapter to finish the tower. Despite I haven't written about a lot of combat at this time, it would be fairly boring and would stretch the chapter a little too much.

Next chapter, they will reach Yen Sid and get their new clothes. But, they'll also find another person waiting for them.

I don't really have much to say other than that.

Like usual, please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	7. Chapter 7: Reunion and New

And we're back! As said in the previous chapter, Sora and company will meet up with Yen Sid and get new clothes. And, they'll be reuniting with a certain someone too!

So, let's get to it.

I own nothing but my OC.

Here's chapter 7!

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 7: Reunion and New

As Sora, Donald and Goofy continued fighting up the tower, they found that A) nothing had really changed that much over a year; for there were plenty of Heartless out and about and B) it basically seemed like their hard work was all for nothing.

Still, they eventually got to the Sorcerer's Loft on the top floor. At a desk in a tall chair, there was an old wizard there. Another thing was how besides the desk, there was a figure in a black cloak. Their figure appeared to look as if it belonged to a girl, but they couldn't tell.

Donald and Goofy bowed to Yen Sid. "Master Yen Sid! It's an honor!" respectfully greeted Donald.

While the anthropomorphic duck and dog were rather formal and respectful in their greeting, Sora was much more casual. In fact, casual to the point where it was fairly shocking. "Hey there!"

Donald and Goofy gave Sora some shocked stares. "Sora! Show some respect!" Donald harshly snapped at him. The cloaked figure laughed a moment at the action before pausing and crossing their arms.

The wizard calmed Donald down with a wave of his hand. "So you are Sora. Now then, have you seen the King yet?" asked Yen Sid.

"Yes, we did, Master. But we didn't get a chance to talk to him." Goofy replied.

Yen Sid nodded in reply. "Yes...the King has been quite busy of late. Therefore, it would seem that the task of instructing you three falls upon my shoulders. You have a perilous journey ahead of you. You must be well prepared."

"You mean… we have to go on another quest? I was looking forward to finding my friend Riku, so we could go back to our islands with our friend Penelope, too." He explained.

"Yes. I know. However, everything in your journey, Sora, is connected. Whether you will find your way home to the islands... Whether you will return alone or with your friends... And, whether or not the islands will still be there. And the key that connects them all is you, Sora."

The cloaked figure shrugged, nodding in reply. Sora furrowed his eyebrows together. "I'm… the key?" He asked, holding out his hand as his Keyblade, the Kingdom Key, flashed into it.

"Chosen wielder of the Keyblade! You are the key that will open the door to light." Yen Sid said to Sora, who nodded as his eyes were filled with determination for what was to come.

Yen Sid looked to Donald and Goofy, who immediately stood up straight with his gaze and nodded. The sorcerer waved his hand over the table and a thick book appeared. Continuing to use his magic, Yen Sid made the book float up in the air and spun it towards Sora. It opened up and landed towards the edge of the table, making the figure jump on impact and scoot away slowly.

Yen Sid stared at them in silence for their reaction before focusing back on Sora. "This book contains valuable knowledge you will need for your journey. Study it carefully. Once you have finished, we will speak of the enemies you will surely confront."

It took a bit for Sora to read through the book. It made sense, really, as the passages were long, but noting the Heartless situation, something didn't exactly add up. "But wait a sec- how come the Heartless are still running around?" Sora asked Yen Sid.

Noting the aftermath of their first adventure, they should've eliminated all of the Heartless threat. That was the point of it, really, so that way, they could stop and save more worlds from either being overtaken by the darkness or be stuck in the darkness forever.

Yen Sid was fortunately able to explain why such was the case. "Your past endeavors did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from the great darkness; make no mistake about that. However, the Heartless are darkness made real-and darkness lingers yet in every heart. The Heartless are fewer. But while darkness exists in a single heart, it will be difficult to eliminate them."

The trio sighed in response. Noting that, expecting to fully rid and destroy the Heartless would be impossible. The good thing was that hey, they got rid of most of the problem. Like, 75% of it or so, but the other 25% couldn't easily be destroyed. As they somewhat slumped over in disappointment, Goofy spoke.

"Gawrsh, that must mean...if everybody's heart was full of light, them Heartless'd go away!" exclaimed Goofy. Sora and Donald perked up in agreement.

Yen Sid nodded in agreement before focusing on the next point. "Now it is time to speak of the enemies you will encounter." said he, before he waved his hand once more. An image of Donald appeared near the wall. Then, it changed into a Shadow Heartless, much to the surprise of the three. The cloaked figure chuckled a moment, but looked away, like they had heard this before.

The wizard explained the purpose of it, knowing that the trio were already quite aware of it. So, he didn't go into incredible depth, and it was considered more of a reminder at best. "If one such as you, Donald, yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this. The Heartless are always lurking and ever seeking to capture new hearts. Never let your guard down! Now then..."

Waving his hand again, an image of one of those strange white creatures appeared by the Shadow Heartless. "At times, if someone with a strong heart and will-be they evil or good-becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own."

Then, the Shadow disappeared. Yen Sid kept on with his explanation. "An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away... A spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence-for you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all. Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse-they only pretend to have hearts. You must not be deceived!"

The other figure seemed to disagree, but still listened anyway.

Sora nodded, though he was somewhat surprised and curious. "Nobodies… they don't exist…" He mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, two more images of the nobodies Yen Sid displayed appeared around Sora, taking him off guard. "Now then...the being you see before you is known as a Dusk. They are the most common form of Nobody. But there are others-some larger, some with frightening and unique powers. Be vigilant! On your journey, you will meet an alarming number of Dusks. They will all attempt to do you harm."

"Well, of course they will. They're an enemy." the figure grumbled under their breath, causing the trio to look over at them. They went silent once more as the images vanished.

"Still, they are nothing but empty shells, destined to return to the darkness. But-" Yen Sid waved his hand again, and images of figures in black cloaks appeared in the place of the Dusks. Sora, Donald and Goofy were rather wary of the image upon seeing it.

Yen Sid continued his exposition to Sora, Donald and Goofy. "While Heartless act on instinct, Nobodies function in a higher manner. They can think and plan. And it seems they are working towards a goal. What that goal is, we do not know."

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked worried at first, but were a bit at ease when the wizard continued. "The King sensed the danger, and journeyed forth to fight it. He found the dark realm's Keyblade, and with it, closed the door. Now he's traveling from world to world, fighting the Heartless as he seeks the answer to the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization XIII."

The cloaked figures disappeared. The trio was about to talk of their plans of action, until they looked at the cloaked figure in the room again. Recognizing the cloak now, they got into fighting stances and summoned their weapons. "Wait! There's a nobody in here!"

The figure jumped and looked back, waving their hands. "Wait, wait, wait! I'm not a nobody!" They exclaimed. Sora, Donald and Goofy didn't believe them.

They edged closer, and the figure stepped closer to Yen Sid. "Sora, I swear to god, if you hit me with that Keyblade…" they growled before looking to Yen Sid when they kept getting closer. "Um… Master Yen Sid! Could you please do something so I don't die!?"

Yen Sid waved his hand. "That is enough. The figure you see now is not an enemy."

Sora tilted his head to the side. "Huh? But why are they wearing a black cloak…?"

The figure quickly pulled down their hood, revealing a familiar but slightly older face. Their long brown hair, with ends that resembled fire, cascaded out. Their tanned face was red with exasperation. Sora, Donald and Goofy were shocked.

"Penelope! There you are!" Sora cried in relief, dismissing his Keyblade as she wearily walked back over. She was about to say something until Sora came at her with a hug, much to her surprise.

"What, did you miss me? I'm kinda… surprised…" Penelope began to say until she noticed what Sora was wearing. She paused. "…Sora? Is that…?"

Sora pulled away and looked down at his outfit before back at Penelope. "Is that what?"

Penelope scanned over Sora's clothes a moment before starting to crack into laughter. "Pfff…oh my god, Master Yen Sid. Are you seeing this? This…haha…"

Penelope then burst out into laughter at Sora's outfit, much to his confusion. "Huh? Penelope, what's wrong? Why are you laughing?"

"They're so…so small! Can I just…" Penelope pulled Sora in and took a screenshot of the situation before continuing to howl in laughter. "T-there! I took a screenshot to commemorate this moment… oh my god, this is priceless."

Sora looked to Donald and Goofy, not understanding why Penelope was reacting this way, but hey! At least she was back, so he didn't have to worry now. "We better go and find the King first."

"But where could he be?" Donald asked. Mickey did kinda just leave quickly while he was in Twilight Town.

"Well, we don't know 'til we look." Goofy replied.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. And the King must know where Riku is, 'cause the two of them were together in the realm of darkness when we closed the door. You know, after defeating Ansem."

Penelope bit her lip. "Well…um…"

The trio looked at Penelope in confusion, but she stopped. "Ah, never mind. I mean, he might know. Or he might not, since… well…"

"Wait, you might know where Riku is, Penelope?" Sora asked.

Donald seemed hesitant. "But how could she? She might've been asleep-"

"I was NOT asleep! I was awake during your absence, so don't even go there, duck!" she snapped.

Sora was surprised. "Wait, you weren't asleep? So…"

Penelope stopped Sora. "Even if I did know where that idiot was now, I don't know if I could tell you. I'm still mad at him for something he did, and plus, he did something really stupid. Even if I did know, he likely wouldn't be there now."

Sora was getting more and more curious, much to Penelope's dismay. She desperately looked at Yen Sid, who managed to pause Sora. "That is quite enough. Before you go, Sora, you will need more suitable traveling clothes. Those look a bit too small for you."

"Ya think?" Penelope asked back, only to be hushed by Donald and Goofy (who glared at her). "Sorry, sir. I kinda let my mouth run on for a little too long."

"There is no need to apologize, Guardian Penelope," Yen Sid stated before motioning to the door. "As for you, Sora, through there, you will find three good fairies. If you ask, they'll create for you appropriate garments."

Goofy looked at Sora and his current state of clothes. "Gawrsh, Sora. You are growing fast."

"Uh… I guess." Sora looked at his clothes and nervously tugged on them. As he, Donald and Goofy were going into the one room, Penelope stayed back, looking through the bookshelf. They paused and stared at her confusedly.

"…Penelope? Are you coming?" Sora asked.

Penelope stared back at him. "I already got my clothes." She answered.

"…You did?"

Penelope had her back turned a moment as she zipped down her cloak and threw it off, revealing her outfit underneath. She turned around to face Sora to show it off.

Like usual, she had her pendant and her star barrette in her hair. She was wearing a purple jacket with short sleeves and a collar, a white v-neck shirt with a pinkish-purple four pointed star, with four dots around it (though her jacket covered them up). The black sleeves went a bit past her jacket to about mid-way at her upper arm, and she also wore short, black fingerless gloves.

Her skirt, which was a pinkish-purple and had a star symbol resembling her pendant and barrette, went down to about mid-thigh. She also had on white socks that went up mid-calve with single black stripes at the top. Unlike her shoes that she wore previously, which were similar to Kairi's, her shoes were smaller and better fit her feet. They were black sneakers she didn't need to tie up, and had one dot per side of the shoe.

"I got here before you, by the way. I wanted to meet you here rather than in Twilight Town."

"Technically, aren't we still in Twilight Town?" Sora inquired.

"No, this is a secret area you access from Twilight Town. You could say it is a part of it, but it also isn't. I took the train to get here." She answered.

"But we didn't see you on the train…?"

"I took the train that went before yours, for your information. Get your clothes from the fairies so I don't start laughing at how small your clothes are again." Penelope ordered, going back over to get her cloak which was on the ground.

Sora smiled and shrugged, going into the one room with Donald and Goofy following.

XxXxX

(Mysterious Tower- Wardrobe)

Upon going into the next room, which was the wardrobe, Sora saw three fairies (adorned in red, blue and green depending on the fairy). They appeared to be chatting by the window.

Sora spoke to Donald and Goofy yet again. "Me, you guys, Penelope, Riku, and the King. I don't care who this Organization is or what it's planning. With the six of us-I mean, seven of us-there's nothing to worry about, right?" He asked.

"Yeah!" cheered Donald. Their talking caught the attention of the three good fairies- Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Flora, who was the fairy in red, spoke first, acknowledging the situation to the other two fairies.

"Well, look who's here, dears! It's Sora, Donald and Goofy!" exclaimed Flora.

"Ooh, if you're looking for clothes, you've come to the right place!" Merryweather said as she got a quick look at Sora's outfit.

Fauna was excited for this newfound, though soon-to-be short project. "I'll do the designing."

At the time, Sora was standing closest to Goofy, so Flora and Merryweather pulled him away so they could start. Fauna sent out a spell that made Sora's outfit change, but it changed to green.

And then all the madness began. While the fairies began to argue amongst themselves of what color to pick while doing so, Merryweather sent a spell at Sora's clothes that changed them blue. Disagreeing with the blue, Fauna sent a spell that changed the boy's clothes green. They kept going as they exchanged more spells, not seeing a raven that appeared in the window (and it flew off with a squawk).

Sora was getting fed up with all these spells and how they couldn't decide. Impatiently, he requested, "Aww, would you just decide?"

The fairies stopped with a gasp before giggling. They supposed that Sora was right, after all. They had started to get a little out of hand with the magic. Flora looked at the other two and then spoke upon looking back at Sora. "All right, then. Together now, dears. And no more squabbling!"

With a blast of white magic and a flash, Sora was now in new clothes. It was predominantly black, but it had many yellow straps going up his pants and they were also slightly on his jacket, which was a very deep blue and red. The edges of his jacket and his pants were white. And yet, despite having similarities to his old outfit, it was very much different. Sora was in awe.

"Now, those aren't ordinary garments." Flora indicated.

Fauna put her wand in both of her hands and held it somewhat close. "They have very special powers." She explained. As a result, Flora waved her hand and created an orb which she blasted in front of Sora. She told him to take the orb.

What it happened to do was unlock potential inside of Sora that would allow his clothes to transform. Why would his clothes transform in the process?

Well, now Sora had magic clothes. Upon unlocking his potential or something, his clothes changed into a red and black outfit with a flash while Penelope came in. Sora also had two Keyblades in hand, being his Kingdom Key and another Keyblade called Star Seeker.

Sora was shocked to have another Keyblade, as well as Donald and Goofy.

"Oh, really, Sora? Why are you wearing red again? And why is your theme blasting through the room?!" Penelope asked in dismay, utterly ruining the moment. She didn't see he had two Keyblades.

The room went silent and everyone stared at the Guardian in alarm. Penelope frowned before noticing Sora had two Keyblades and then she pieced it together. "Oh never mind. I get it now. You're in Valor Form, so you can use Synch Bade as a result. Sorry for yelling."

Sora, Donald and Goofy stared at Penelope in confusion and blinked. Her behavior was a bit different than they remembered. She was a bit less aggressive?

"Remember to not go and lose that pendant, Guardian Penelope. You can't use your forms without it." Fauna reminded Penelope as she was about to leave the room.

Sora was curious. "Wait, you got an orb too? Could I see your other outfit?" He asked. Penelope went silent and looked nervously at Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. The fairies nervously looked back at her and then at each other.

"Would it be a good idea though? I mean, the way my forms work isn't the same way as Sora's…" She thought out loud, but seemed to be directing it to the three good fairies.

"It's ultimately your choice, dear. It's whether or not you want to risk the consequences." Flora replied. Penelope looked away and pondered on it. Sora furrowed his eyebrows together and was trying to figure out what was going on.

"Wait, what consequences? I don't get it?"

Penelope chuckled to herself and then said, "Well, Sora, I probably should show it off. I mean, I probably had you worried somehow. And I deserve to take pain, even if it's just a bit. Especially noting how bad I was."

The girl turned around and tapped a finger onto her pendant. She glowed with the same light Sora did when he changed forms. Except when her outfit changed, it was completely different. Her outfit changed into one that was frillier and much more dress-like, with reds, pinks and oranges on the jacket-like part and her frilly dress-like addition of silvery-white with gold trimming. She also wore long white gloves and silvery boots with wing accessories. Her pendant appeared to be gone, but her hairclip changed into a bow with the same star, but the jewel was red. A similar four-pointed star was on the jacket-like part of her dress.

Sora was in awe at Penelope's outfit, as was Sora, Donald and Goofy. Suddenly though, she cringed and keeled over in a sudden burst of pain. Sora panicked and tried to help her up, but she stubbornly shook her head. "N-no. Don't worry about me. This pain happens, and it should. I don't deserve any mercy for my mistakes. They have more to say, so I recommend you'd listen." She breathed, before forcing herself out of Valor Form.

Donald and Goofy were still in awe at the fact Sora had two Keyblades, but they didn't get why Penelope was being weird. Sora didn't either, but he tried to not show concern (but still did) like Penelope requested. They continued listening to the three good fairies, who were also worried, but tried to not make a huge fuss about it.

"This journey's gonna be twice as difficult as your last. Maybe even harder with that one there." Merryweather explained, invoking a sigh out of Sora. Nothing could be easy in this case, especially with these new enemies that they had to face. But they could do it, couldn't they?

Flora smiled and then informed Sora of another detail. "Your garments also have other powers-but you will have to discover what they are as you continue on your journey."

Sora looked at both of his Keyblades and then back at Flora. "Okay, I'll do my best. And thanks a lot!"

There were a few things left before they left the tower. For one thing, Fauna mentioned Yen Sid had something for them. But the three of them were a bit hesitant on leaving the wardrobe due to the one problem. Penelope managed to get herself up (she still denied getting help from Sora, Donald and Goofy, as she kept insisting she didn't deserve or really need their help), but she slightly limped out the door and had to balance herself up against the wall as Yen Sid motioned the other three to the window.

Fortunately, it was the Gummi Ship! So, it denied any worry from Sora about the previous incident of their ride being gone. They were about to leave when Yen Sid stopped them, and they straightened up in their presence. Penelope limped over and tried to stand up on her own while they faced Yen Sid.

"Because of your previous endeavors, the worlds have returned to their original states. That means the pathways between them have disappeared." explained Yen Sid, which upset Sora, Donald and Goofy. Just how were they to get around now?

Well, fortunately, they were not to worry…

…Too much.

Apparently, according to Yen Sid and Mickey's suspicions, there were pathways that were to be utilized that the worlds created. It was uncertain how they were accessed, but the worlds still had ties. And the Keyblade was to be the guide in order to find the paths.

Unfortunately, the Heartless and Nobodies had their own paths and were able to get into the worlds. It was uncertain if they were trying to connect their paths of darkness to the gates of the worlds (which was unfair nonetheless), that was the last of the information. "Now then, that is all the information I can give to you. Go forth, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Everyone is waiting." Yen Sid dismissed.

Sora, Donald and Goofy nodded, thanking Yen Sid and saluting the wizard before beginning to leave until they stopped and looked at Penelope. "Hey Penelope, are ya comin'?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah. Just a second." She answered, still looking somewhat pained. The three of them appeared worried. Penelope rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. Please, get to the ship. Don't let me hold you back. You never let it before, anyway. I'll catch up with you."

"Ok. We'll wait for you. Will you be okay getting down the stairs?" Sora asked.

"If I trip and break my leg, I probably deserve it for all the screwing up I've done lately. But I don't need help getting down. I can do it myself." She replied. Sora was getting worried again, but it didn't bother Penelope like it had before.

The trio left, leaving Penelope and Yen Sid in the room. She smiled and headed to the door, still pained. "Thank you for everything, sir. I'll do my best to help Sora, Donald and Goofy in their adventure." She said to the wizard, heading towards the door.

"Remember your role in all this and what you must do Guardian. We both know I am not the one to guide you, for another has that role in my place."

"Right. I know." Penelope finished, saluting to Yen Sid before vanishing out the door. He vanished with a whisk of light.

When Penelope went out the door, she noticed Sora waiting there. "Sora, I told you that you can leave without me. You don't need to help me, ok?" She indicated, starting to sound exasperated as she was starting to go down the stairs. She stumbled a bit, much to Sora's worry, and he came to her side and started helping her.

Penelope decided to at least accept that Sora was going to help her and there was nothing she could do about it. "I'm surprised you're helping me despite all the awful things I've said and done to you. I'm not deserving of it in any way, since I've messed up enough."

"Will you stop saying that?" Sora asked, halting their movement. Penelope went silent, and looked away. "Besides, I've already forgiven you. You've been acting weird since we got here though. Did something happen?"

It took a moment for her to reply. "…No. Nothing has happened. Forget about it."

"Okay. Still, what is up with you saying something about messing up?" Sora asked. "And where did you go? We didn't see you in Twilight Town when I woke up."

"I know. I came here when I left Twilight Town. I couldn't bear seeing you at the time."

"How come?" Sora asked. Penelope looked away and started acting a bit aloof. Sora continued helping Penelope down the stairs. "Y'know… you're still acting weird. And you've seemed to change a lot from when I last saw you. You were acting like your old self earlier-"

"That would be a bad thing if I acted TOO much like my old self. I mean, I acted like a complete bitch, so I can't go back to it."

"True. I'm unsure where you're getting that from, but you weren't THAT bad… I think." Sora tried to remember it, but Penelope stopped him.

"Don't ponder on it too much, Sora. It seems we've both called each other out on our actions now."

"With your aggression against Kairi last time or…?" Sora stopped when he said Kairi, but Penelope didn't seem to react. Then, he got worried he upset her.

"I wasn't really talking about what happened with Kairi, but I was so mean to her too. Especially when she was without her heart. I need to apologize to her profusely when we see her again."

Sora stopped again, and Penelope frowned at him. "What? Did I say something wrong, Sora? You're looking like you've just seen a ghost or something."

"Wait, you're not mad at Kairi? Oh wait, I'm not supposed to…"

Penelope shot Sora a bored stare. "Come ON, Sora. Do you honestly think I'm still that jealous of Kairi? I mean, by now, she's probably smokin' hot, but I have no reason to hate her. If it weren't for Kairi, someone I knew… maybe two people I knew wouldn't exist. And you can say her name too. Kairi's a person and she exists, so I don't see why it matters a lot to say her name."

Sora laughed. "Am I still talking to the same Penelope?"

"Yes, Sora. You're taking this too much like a surprise. But we're taking too long to go down the stairs, so we probably should keep going." She replied rather calmly.

Sora continued helping Penelope down the stairs so they could meet up with Donald and Goofy (Sora had told them to go on without him. They were hesitant on doing so, but Sora was dead set on helping Penelope down the stairs since using her Valor Form hurt her a lot and the effects were still evident).

XxXxX

While Sora and Penelope were meeting up with Donald and Goofy, someone came back to life. You're probably wondering, "Wait, someone was revived from the dead? Who? And what happened?"

Well, remember that raven from earlier? The one who was spying in from the window before it flew off? He returned with a long black dress.

Actually it looked more like a cloak. But the three good fairies recognized it. And upon accidentally remembering whom it belonged to and her name (they didn't want to do it. But they did, and that somehow affected the revival), the clothing started to change form and rise out of the ground. Flora and Fauna fled to tell Yen Sid, and Merryweather fled upon seeing the newly-revived figure's face.

And upon crying her name in alarm, Merryweather booked it out of the wardrobe. Basically, Maleficent came back to life somehow (despite she was slayed in her dragon-form and was supposed to be dead). Joyous at her own return, Maleficent burst into evil laughter.

Meanwhile, upon coming onto the Gummi Ship, the quartet was hailed by Chip and Dale. "Howdy, Sora, Guardian Penelope! How are ya doin'?" Dale asked.

The two of them then reintroduced themselves to the party. They already knew who the pair was of course, but it had been a really long time since they had seen them. Plus, they had been taking care of the ship too.

Upon giving their dismissal, Sora checked the map. Penelope was curious where they could go now. "So, guys. Where to next? How many worlds are on the map?" She asked. The other three were silent, much to her confusion.

"Yo, boys. What's up? You're being kinda quiet." Penelope stated, as she started to get up.

"There's only one." Sora suddenly said out of the blue.

"Huh? Only one what? One world?" Penelope continued to inquire.

"Yeah! There's only one!" Donald answered back.

Penelope blinked before taking a deep breath. However, a yawn got in between, and tiredly, the girl asked, "Mm…alright. Which world?"

"It's Hollow Bastion." Sora quickly replied.

Penelope stretched and smiled at the three of them. "Alright then. Let's get going, shall we?"

From there, the quartet headed to Hollow Bastion, seeing what was up next and also what they could do next.

-o-o-o-o-

Wow, this chapter was long. Anyway, I guess one of my main focuses for this story is working on Penelope's character as well as her relationship with Sora and other characters. One of the biggest flaws I'm aware of in Re: Kingdom Hearts was how strained and how differently the other characters treated her, as well as she treated them.

Though she has developed through Re: CoM and Re: 358/2 Days and has become better, there was little to no interaction with Sora, Donald or Goofy. The only exception was in Re: CoM, where Penelope did interact with them a bit, and called Sora out when he was acting differently as result of Namine's influence.

And noting that this story in particular is going to be much longer, it's important that Penelope and Sora have a better relationship. In the next chapter, I'll be touching upon this with one of Maria's first and most important teachings that will be a factor in combat and also Penelope's relationship with Sora. As well as other characters too.

What will it be, exactly?

Well, you'll find out in the next chapter!

Please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve!

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


	8. Chapter 8: The Return

This chapter will be fairly fun. For one thing, they're going back to Hollow Bastion and reuniting with some old friends (though most of that reuniting will have to wait for a bit). Another character is also going to show up in this chapter as well. I'm going to spoil it and just say that Maria is going to show up again.

Unlike Zia, Maria is more than willing to drop in and show herself to everyone, not just Penelope.

So yeah.

Disneygirl125: I can agree quite a lot. As I've written Penelope throughout this series, she's changed a lot, kind of like Riku, as well as matured. She's grown ever since she first appeared in Re: Kingdom Hearts. I feel like what occurred in 358/2 Days helped her develop a lot, as well as helped her with her maturity. Thank you for your review!

I own nothing but my OCs.

Here's chapter 8.

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 8: The Return

The quarter arrived back in Hollow Bastion. In a year, the town seemed to have started to restore to its previous state before darkness hit it. It bustled with activity; moogles flew about, doing their regular business as merchants, while the residents worked to rebuild the town. Sora, Donald and Goofy burst in, awed by what was happening.

They went over and gazed at the castle in the distance. Penelope caught up with them, somewhat exasperated. She took a deep breath. "Ok, I've done some running in the past year or so. But really, boys. That was a bit excessive, even for me." She sighed, as she caught up. Sora, Donald and Goofy looked back at her.

"Maybe you're just a bit out of shape." Donald stated.

Penelope put a hand on her hips. "And you weren't asleep for a year, Donald?"

Donald blinked at her before huffing at her and looking away.

"Don't get so feather-butthurt, duck. I was just saying." she explained, as she approached the trio. "Still. I am a bit out of shape, I think. But it's not too bad. This adventure will probably help."

There was a brief silence for a moment. "Hollow Bastion looks so different now, huh? I almost didn't recognize it!" exclaimed Sora as he changed the subject as they got back to moving.

"It does look kinda different." Goofy added.

Speaking of Hollow Bastion, it brought up another thing. "I hope Leon and the others are okay."

Penelope shrugged. "Knowing them, they probably are. I mean, they have weapons and stuff."

Suddenly, Penelope tensed up when her heart reacted to darkness. Goofy looked up on the roof, seeing some Soldier Heartless. "Uh-oh," began he, as he pointed in the direction of the Heartless. "Looks like we're gonna have to do some fightin'."

"It's kinda expected, really. Hollow Bastion isn't without heart-"

There was a flash of light out of nowhere, and took the four off guard. "Heya, Penelope! Are ya ready for your first lesson?"

Penelope jumped back and summoned Leviathan. Sora, Donald and Goofy were confused, but they also took out their weapons. Then, they noticed something off about Penelope's Keyblade. This was the first time she had summoned it in front of them.

"Wait a minute… I'd hate to interrupt the moment, Penelope, but… your Keyblade…" Sora stuttered.

She frowned and looked back at Sora. "Huh? What about it? Is something wrong?"

"Weren't ya wieldin' Oathkeeper as your Keyblade?" Goofy asked.

Penelope stared at her blade and then back at the other three. "I was. I still have the Keychain. I changed it a while ago." She explained, not mentioning how she got the keychain, and then looking at the newcomer, before recognizing her wild ponytail and her eyes.

"Wait a minute… Maria!? I thought you told me to call you if I needed you! What are you doing here at a time like this?" Penelope asked.

"Maria?" Sora asked, even more confused, and looking at the other two.

Donald and Goofy frowned at Maria. They could've sworn she looked very familiar from somewhere*, but they couldn't remember where.

"Huh? Do we know you from somewhere?" Donald asked Maria.

Maria's eyes widened and she bit her lip. She acted somewhat aloof, almost like it was some kind of nervous habit. Her response in itself was also rather dismissive to Donald and Goofy on the whole topic in particular. "M-me? Oh, no. No, no, no. Even if you did, you might be mistaken, since it would be an incredibly long time ago if you did know. So… um…"

The woman immediately switched topics and focused on Penelope. "Anyway, did I come at a bad time? Were you in the middle of something important that I might've interrupted?"

"Well, I guess so. We really just got here, and from the looks of it, our first matter of business is to go see Leon and the others (not that I know where they are, but still)." replied Penelope, who twirled a stand of her hair.

Maria frowned, scratching her head. "Welp… It seems I really do have bad timing sometimes…" she mumbled under her breath before perking up. "Anyway, when do you want me to come back? Is there any specific times that would be best?"

Penelope paused, looking back at Sora, Donald and Goofy for any suggestions as a result. It was mainly due to the fact she was really confused, somewhat stressed by this coming up out of nowhere and flustered. And because of it, she was at a lack of words. She didn't want to come off as rude to Maria as they hadn't really known each other as long for that matter.

Even though she had time to think in the unnecessarily long moments it took for her to answer, her mind drew a blank. So, Sora decided to step in and give some kind of suggestion and help in some way. "Uh… would a half hour be okay with the both of you? I'm unsure how long this visit with Leon will be, but we could see how long it takes and go from there."

The two in question frowned a moment before looking at each other. Penelope cracked a nervous smile. "Well… yeah. I think thirty minutes would be good. I could manage to profusely apologize to everyone in about thirty minutes or so."

"Yeah… wait, what about apologies?" Maria asked. Sora frowned at Penelope, looking worried.

He put his hands on his hips. "C'mon! I thought we talked about this! Aren't you kinda overdoing it with the apology thing?"

"I can't be overdoing it if I haven't even started yet." Penelope stubbornly replied. Maria looked incredibly confused as to what was going on, but she paused when Sora set his hands on Penelope's shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.

"Penelope…"

She took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Sorry, Sora. I'll try my best to not overdo it, ok?" Sora sighed in relief and smiled at her.

Maria smiled before vanishing as quickly as she appeared. Penelope was still unsure how Zia or Maria even managed to show up out of the blue like this in the first place, but now wasn't the time to be worried.

They started continuing onto finding Leon and the others. However, Donald and Goofy had their concerns about something. Donald decided to address it to Penelope, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Penelope… How do you know Maria?" Donald asked, causing them to stop.

She paused and stared back at Donald and Goofy. A puzzled look appeared on her face when she noticed that the two appeared worried and also confused. "Huh? Why does it matter?"

"Well, it's just kinda weird. She's familiar from somewhere, but if it is Maria, it would be kinda odd." Goofy tried to explain.

"Odd how?"

"It feels like seein' a ghost when ya look at her. I'm unsure why." Goofy answered. Penelope ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. She didn't get the same feeling from her like Goofy seemed to be describing.

However, they were stalling. They had a place where they needed to be, after all.

XxXxX

(Hollow Bastion- Marketplace)

While the quartet was heading to wherever Leon happened to be at this time, they ended up passing by an out-of-place duck. He was nearby a freezer holding a bar of ice cream in hand.

Donald and Goofy seemed to recognize this duck from somewhere, but Donald was taken aback. He hadn't seen this duck in quite a long time. "Uncle Scrooge!?" He called, but didn't quite catch the other duck's attention. He didn't seem to be paying attention at this time. Penelope almost seemed to recognize that name and started humming a tune, but Sora had no idea what was going on.

"Er… who?" Sora asked, feeling left in the dark due to not being told about anything. Goofy was more than willing to answer the question for Sora.

With a smile on his face, Goofy gave Sora a quick explanation. "He's Donald's uncle-a business typhoon! Before the Heartless showed up, he traveled the worlds on a Gummi Ship with the King. He was helpin' to set up a traffic system." Donald frowned at Goofy and proceeded to correct him as result of mixing what Mr. McDuck was actually doing.

"A transit system!" squawked Donald to Goofy, causing Scrooge to speak. He didn't understand the racket, and acknowledged such in a prompt manner.

The duck proceeded to sigh before he spoke. "What's all the racket?" asked the older duck before he turned around. He was pleasantly surprised to see Donald and Goofy (as well as Sora and Penelope, but then again, they never directly met). "Why, if it isn't Donald! And Goofy! Hello, lads! Aye, you all look hale and hearty!"

Donald looked at his uncle and nodded, smiling back at him. "So do you, Uncle Scrooge." However, Scrooge seemed to disagree with Donald on that idea. In fact, he seemed troubled by something.

"Ah, if only I were... I canna seem to recreate my favorite old-time ice cream. I'd make millions if I just got it right..." sighed Scrooge. This thought was starting to distract him as he looked sadly at the pale blue-green ice cream bar in hand. He tasted the ice cream, only to be disgusted and visibly upset. "Terrible…!"

Scrooge went back to trying to recreate his favorite ice cream flavor, and there were no farewells, or at least, farewell-for-now said between the two parties. However, Penelope found the ice cream bar familiar.

She was unsure what to say as the quartet continued to move along to the next area of focus, being the Borough of Hollow Bastion.

XxXxX

(Hollow Bastion- Borough)

Upon arriving to their 'destination' (well, the destination for now), the quartet noticed strange pillars of light appear and reappear. They looked like they had either taken something down or were searching for something.

Regardless of such, nobody knew what the heck they were. Donald was kind enough to bring the question into circulation by spouting, "Hey, what's going on?" at those things as if they could hear him.

The four of them proceeded to hear a familiar voice from afar. "That's the town's defense mechanism." Searching for the voice, the quarter ended up seeing Yuffie up on a building. Sora was ecstatic to see Yuffie for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Yuffie!" he called to her, grinning. Yuffie smiled back at Sora and waved for a moment until she noticed something coming behind Sora, Donald, Goofy and Penelope; and with some panic, she shouted, "Look out!"

Sora's Keyblade flashed as a Dusk was coming from behind him to attack him, but Penelope was on it, quickly taking it out with a combo from Leviathan. As if on cue, more nobodies came in to play, and Penelope twirled her Keyblade as if taunting them.

Donald and Goofy were surprised at Penelope's swiftness to defend Sora. However, now definitely wasn't the time to be distracted by her on-point defense. Now was the time to fight more nobodies.

The quartet proceeded to fight the nobodies, with the help of the light pillar defense mechanism set into place. Though Sora, Donald and Goofy could get back into the swing of things fairly easily even though they had been hibernating for a year, it was evident that Penelope was more in shape than they thought.

Of course, Donald wasn't going take back his comment from a while ago about saying that Penelope was maybe out of shape, but she seemed used to fighting Nobodies (well, more like fighting in general). The other three still had work to do as they were still a bit rusty.

Yuffie was relieved, and called down to the three of them. "Hey, you guys!" she shouted, hopping down from the building and coming over to them. "I see you're still in top form."

Penelope scoffed at that comment, but decided to say nothing to Yuffie about the events that had taken place over a year. She'd probably find that out later.

Sora, however, took the compliment and asked rather cockily, "What'd you expect?" He patted his chest and looked at Yuffie, still relieved. "Looks like you're doing ok."

Yuffie gave Sora the same response he has given her. "Well, what did YOU expect?"

Sora, Donald and Goofy started to catch up with Yuffie on the events of what had been going on in Hollow Bastion. Basically, the crew had been doing well; Yuffie hadn't seen King Mickey or Riku; and now, they were all heading to Merlin's House to catch up with everyone else.

Well… most were. As Penelope was about to join in with walking back, it had hit exactly 30 minutes and Maria reappeared in a peculiar way. She looked like she had appeared from a portal, but was hanging upside down. She nearly scared the life out of Penelope, but the girl stopped herself from screaming. "Heya! So, it's been half an hour. Didja get everything sorted out with Leon and the others?" The woman asked.

Penelope noticed that Sora, Donald, Goofy and Yuffie were still heading off to Merlin's House and catching up. They hadn't noticed that she hadn't caught up yet, but that didn't seem to be a bother. Maria understood the situation by one glance.

"…I take the silence and the fact that you've only talked to Yuffie as a 'no'. I don't mind giving you more time to catch up with everyone and get the lowdown of what's going-" Penelope interrupted Maria.

"Nah. It's been 30 minutes. I can't keep stalling forever."

"But I thought you wanted to go talk to Leon and the others and quote-on-quote 'apologize profusely' to them for how rude you were."

Penelope sighed, watching the other four continue leaving. "Meh. Sora's been waiting a year to see his friends. I might as well let him see them, right? It'll make no difference whether I'm there. If I am, I'll likely ruin the moment."

Maria bopped Penelope on the head, causing her to draw back. She didn't seem all that pleased by Penelope talking down about herself again. "Bad Guardian. Bad. You're not going to ruin anything just by being there."

Penelope shrugged. "I suppose so. I still want to get to this lesson though. Leon and the others can wait."

For a moment, Maria looked at Sora and the others, and then at Penelope. Somewhat hesitantly, she came out from the portal (and landed gracefully like a cat), opening a Corridor of Light and taking Penelope to the Hall of Light as she was supposed to.

Still, Maria felt bad for letting Penelope continue to fracture relationships. She hoped that the girl wouldn't be too hard on herself about this.

Meanwhile, as Sora and company were about halfway to Merlin's House, Sora noticed something wrong. There was four people, not five.

"…Penelope? Where'd you go?" Sora asked. Donald and Goofy paused and looked around, seeing that the Guardian of Light and Darkness wasn't there. Yuffie acknowledged this as well.

"Wait, the sassy brunette girl was here? She was so quiet that I didn't notice her."

Sora bit his lip, worried that something bad might've happened. "…Y'know, I'm getting this slight feeling that she hasn't been here at all while we've been walking back. Do you guys think we should go look for her?" He asked Donald and Goofy.

Donald was dismissive on the subject. "Nah. She's probably fine, Sora. If she vanished, she probably had to go somewhere."

Goofy agreed, recalling their meeting with Maria earlier. "A half hour mighta passed already, so Penelope probably went with Maria to do some training." Sora decided to believe that was probably why she was gone.

He didn't like that Penelope wordlessly left, but he hoped that she would meet back up with them soon.

Especially noting what was to come.

-o-o-o-o-

Wow. This chapter took much longer than expected, guys. Sorry about that.

So, to make a long story short, I have been super busy with school, but also uninspired with a lot of stories I've been writing on this site. I'm going to rewrite a few, pause others, and try to continue the rest.

Inspiration for Re: Kingdom Hearts 2 hasn't been hard to come by, though. For a while, due to the bustling of life, it's been hard for me to get back into writing this story. There's also the fact that I've been working on another story on deviantART somewhat-loosely based around Tomodachi Life as of late, and it's taken up a lot of my focus.

Still, I have a lot planned for this story. I know it's been a good few months since I've last posted anything on this story.

I'll try my best to update, but if life gets super busy again and I suddenly stop, just note that it may be the reason pausing updates.

*This is in reference to Kingdom Hearts: Unchained X. Mickey, Donald and Goofy appear in-game at one point and meet your player character in some earlier missions. Their relationship to Maria and Zia will be discussed later on.

Other than that, please review if you'd like, please refrain from flaming, and please tell me how I can improve. I appreciate the feedback as I've been working hard to refine my writing.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!


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